Blaising Iron
by Skeeter20
Summary: That's when I heard a twig snap behind me. I whirled around to face whoever had snuck up on my temporarily forgetting about the fire in my hands, but there was no one there."Who's there?" I fearfully called out. "Depends who you ask. Some call me an angel, a savior, and others call me a demon child." I heard a composed female voice call back.
1. Prologue

_**Well. here it is the sequel to an Icy Blaise. Blaising Iron probably could be read as a stand alone, but will probably make more sense if you read the An Icy Blaise first. Enjoy!**_

* * *

I was seeing red…and no for once, it wasn't just, like, my hair at the edges of my vision. I was furious, enraged, on the brink of insanity and I couldn't wait to take it out on my two-timing, soon to be ex-fiancé. We were going to be married this winter, like, the day after Christmas, but then I saw him making out with some brunette in a bar on my way home from the diner. At first I cried…for days. I lied and told him my great-aunt something or another died and luckily he believed me. Then the sadness just faded into a simmering rage. I nervously bit my lip as I pulled into the driveway of our house. I took a second to recollect myself and double checked my make-up. I wanted to look fabulous when I, like, ended it. I wiped some stray mascara from around my dark brown, almost black eyes, straightened my dark blue blouse, and scrunched my hair before calmly walking into the house. I was a ticking time bomb. All it would take is one word from him and boom utter chaos would ensue. It took all my will power to keep myself from biting my lip as I waited for him to greet me. It was a nervous tick that most people picked up on within minutes of meeting me. Leo and I had been together for three years, since, like, our junior year of college. I loudly set my keys down on the kitchen counter and I could hear him moving around in the living room. He walked in to greet me with his arms open.

"Amber, I'm glad you're home early tonight." He gave me the same genuine grin that he gave me every time that he had seen me for the past three years. Like, he wasn't seeing another woman. If he didn't want to date me then why did he ask me to marry him? He should have just broken up with me instead of trying to keep up with this charade.

"Why? Was the brunette down at Tony's Bar busy tonight?" I tightly smiled back, crossing my arms.

"Uh, no?" He uneasily replied as he tried to lean forward to hug me. I took a step backwards.

"I saw you kissing her." I evenly replied, watching him carefully for any nervous ticks, but he didn't get nervous…he got angry.

"You think that I was cheating on you?" He slowly replied.

"I _saw _you cheating on me." I snapped, my dark brown eyes searching his blue ones, still hoping that I was wrong.

"What evidence do you have? How do you know that it was even me?" He protested, he voice slowly raising in volume.

"So you weren't cheating on me?" I disbelievingly asked.

"No I _was _not cheating on you babe." He reassuringly replied as he gently rubbed my arms.

"I'm sorry it's… just that it's been a hard week at the diner. I just need to relax by watching some T.V. I'm really sorry about all this." I apologized as I walked towards the living room, but he stopped me by grabbing my elbow and spinning me around.

"NO!" He cleared his throat, "I mean, how about you go upstairs and change into something comfortable. I can make dinner tonight." He offered.

"Okay…" I apprehensively replied as I walked up the steps to our bedroom. At the top of the steps I stomped over to our room and loudly closed the door so that he would think I was in the room. I sat, perched at the top of the steps watching the kitchen. I didn't trust him and it was awfully suspicious how he was so against me going into the living room. After waiting a few seconds I hear him whisper,

"Coast is clear." I gasped as I watched a long pair of tan legs walk out from the living room. He escorted her to the door and then started to heat something up on the stove. I took a deep breath to, like, calm myself down before I destroyed something of his. I plastered a fake smile on my face and walked down the steps.

"Hey, babe, I was going to make spaghetti…does that sound good to you?" Leo asked, just pretending that he hadn't just snuck someone out of the house.

"So was she a hooker or was she free?" I replied.

"She definitely wasn't..." He started to replied, but then he trailed off, "Oh shit."

"You fucking bastard! Thirty seconds ago you literally stood there and told me that you weren't cheating on me!" I screamed at him. The fuse had finally run down and now he was going to have hell to pay.

"Well, I said that I _was _not cheating on you. Meaning that in the past I wasn't cheating on you." He tried to explain.

"Oh yeah because that makes it, like, all better." I scoffed.

"Uh…yeah?" He asked.

"We're done. I'll be back to collect my stuff in the morning. Have a nice life asshole." I scowled storming out of the backdoor into the dark night. As soon as I got out of sight of the window I ripped my four inch heels off my feet and collapsed to my knees at the edge of the woods that were behind our…my…his house. I felt a familiar tingling sensation in my hands and my vision turned red. I slowly stood up and turned around to face the house. I glanced down at my hands, which now were ablaze and calculatingly looked back up at the house. I slowly raised my hand like I was going to throw a baseball and zoned in on my kitchen window. That's when I heard a twig snap behind me. I whirled around to face whoever had snuck up on my temporarily forgetting about the fire in my hands, but there was no one there.

"Who's there?" I fearfully called out.

"Depends who you ask. Some call me an angel, a savior, and others call me a demon child." I heard a composed female voice call back.

"Show yourself." I unconvincingly ordered, my voice wavering. I heard the voice laugh,

"Only if you promise not to torch the house and/or anything in it."

"Why should you even care about what I do to that house?" I warily asked searching the darkness for the voice.

"Because if you torch the house I have to fill out paperwork and if Leo is still inside when the house gets torched then I have to fill out even more paperwork, and arrest you, which in turn makes me have to fill out even more paperwork." The voice nonchalantly explained.

"Why are you here?" I uneasily asked.

"Damn, you ask a lot of questions…don't you?" The voice jokingly replied.

"Please, just answer them." I brokenly asked. I could feel energy draining out of me. The anger from earlier was fading and the fire in my hands was dimming. I heard a sigh,

"Well, I'm here for you, my dear, and my offer still stands. You promise not to torch the house, I will show myself." The voice flippantly replied. I took a deep breath,

"Fine, I promise not to torch the house."

"And…" The voice coaxed.

"And/or anything in it." I finished.

"Fantastic, now look up." The voice cheerfully ordered. I looked up at the treetops and I spotted a light blue sweatshirt among the dark branches. I scowled and sent a fireball sailing towards the voice, but instead of hitting the target the fireball fizzled out partway there.

"Oh well played. I guess I should've thought to include myself in the list of things that were off-limits to torch, but I guess you live and learn." The voice carelessly replied, completely unaffected by the fact that I had just sent a fireball towards her.

"Is everything a joke to you?" I snapped.

"No, just funny things." The voice dismissively replied, "Now, like I was about to say, I am going to come down there so we can have a civil conversation. Are you going to try and light me up again or are we going to act like adults?" The voice condescendingly asked.

"I suppose so." I replied trying to sound as cool and collected as the voice.

"Get rid of the fire." The voice ordered.

"I don't trust you." I warily replied, not sure how the voice would respond. She laughed,

"Amber Bleu, I've been stalking you for a month. I literally could have killed or hurt you at any time. Trust me if I wanted you dead, your funeral would've already been long over by now."

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" I scoffed. The voice sighed and pulled back her hood. The voice was a girl, probably in her late teens with long blonde hair and icy blue eyes.

"I am eighteen, seven years younger than you. Is that comforting?" The girl asked rolling her eyes.

"I guess." I uneasily replied, extinguishing the flames. She jumped down from the tree and nimbly landed beside me. She held out her hand and smirked,

"Blaise Williams, at your service." I cautiously took her hand and shook it still wary of trusting her. She sighed,

"I can explain everything on the way back to the jet." Blaise grinned. I paused,

"Wait, jet?"

"Yeah, you have a meeting with Director Fury in about thirty minutes." She dismissively waved.

"But, we're in Pennsylvania." I protested,

"And he's in New York. Don't worry sweetheart we won't be late." She confidently smirked.

"What if I refuse?" I nervously asked.

"Aww, that's cute. You think I'm alone." She laughed, but her eyes were as cold and hard as ice. Letting me know that, for once, she wasn't kidding she was, like, dead serious.

* * *

I threw open the door that led into Fury's office and flipped my long blonde hair over my shoulder as I walked inside. I threw a pile of paperwork down on his desk and slouched into the seat in front of him.

"How is she?" I asked, thinking about the girl with reddish copper hair that I had brought in a few nights ago.

"Still wary of everyone. She keeps asking for you." Fury replied looking me in the eye. I shrugged uncaringly,

"Because actually gave her an answer when she asked questions. Not getting answers is something she's going to have to get used to if she's going to be stuck here." I evenly replied looking him in the eye and remembering this past summer when I had finally validated my past after my close friend, Tony Stark had hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Coulson would-"Fury started to try and argue with me, but I cut him off.

"Coulson is dead. I am not him, I never will be him, and I would prefer if you would stop trying to convince me to do something by saying that Coulson would have done it." I coldly snapped. Fury sighed and tossed another manila folder across his desk. I thumbed through it and smirked,

"So let me get this straight, I am going to get paid to stalk my friend for a couple of months?" I incredulously asked. Fury nodded and my face exploded into a grin.

"I'll start right now."

* * *

**_Here we go first chapter of Blaising Iron!_**


	2. Stalking a Billionaire

I crouched, hidden in the bushes outside of the hospital, waiting for Tony to come back out after visiting his driver, Happy, who had been a victim of a terrorist bombing. I unsuccessfully tried to repress a yawn as I watched the crowd of media that was steadily growing around the door leading into the Hospital. I had no idea how Tony was still able to function. He had been up for the past seventy-two hours and counting. Since my job was to watch him, that meant that I had also been up for the past seventy two hours and counting. Unlike Tony I found it very difficult to survive on very little sleep. I had been watching the man for the past three months twenty-four seven and had yet to have a normal night's sleep. He was completely unaffected, I on the other hand, felt like I was going to collapse from exhaustion at any moment. I sighed and took another sip of my coffee. It was my third one today and with the way things were going I would probably be drinking at least two more cups before the day was over.

Anyway, soon after arriving in Malibu, I quickly found out that after New York, Tony was a hot mess. He basically never slept, but when he managed to fall asleep he was plagued by nightmares. Since he given over control of his company Stark Industries, to his girlfriend, Pepper, he had no reason to leave his house and so he spent all his time locked away downstairs in his lab building more and more Iron Man suits. He had to be close to a hundred by now.

On the rare occasion that he actually left the house followed him. Like the other week when he and Rhodey went out for lunch and Tony had a panic attack in front of a restaurant. It was all over the news. I sighed, ran my hand through my hair, and went to drink out of my coffee when my phone went off, startling me. I glanced at the screen and sighed. It was Amber. I hit ignore and prayed that she wouldn't call back, but of course, she did. I scowled and picked up the phone.

"What do you want?"

"I need your help." Amber pleaded.

"Well, I'm kind of in the middle of something." I replied, taking another sip of my coffee.

"It's really important and I, like, don't know who else to ask." She begged. I sighed,

"What is it?"

"I forget where I put my key card!" She exclaimed.

"Did you check your pockets?" I sighed, it wouldn't be the first time a keycard went missing in her pockets. In fact her key card was missing more often then not, but every time Amber acted like it was the end of the world.

"Of course, what do you think I am? A stupid blonde?" She asked, acting offended that I would even suggest her key card was in her pocket.

"Well, this stupid blonde has work to do in Malibu. Bye." I cheerfully replied before hanging up the phone. I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my coffee once again, hoping she wouldn't call back. But, sure enough my phone went off again. I took a deep breath and full well-knowing that I was going to regret my decision, I picked up and was instantly bombarded with apologies,

"Blaise, I am sooo, like, sorry. I did not mean to say that you were dumb. I actually think you're really smart and I don't know what I would, like, ever do without you. Please forgive me and pretty please, please, PLEASE, don't hang up." Amber begged.

"Did you ask Steve to help you before you called me?" I slowly asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Steve's on a mission and before you ask, so are Clint and Tasha." She said reading my mind. I frowned to myself, that was odd. Usually someone was around to watch her because Amber tended to set things on fire when she got emotional and she got emotional way too often. She always had an assigned baby-sitter. Well, I guess not always...

"Is there anyone there that is ba-training you this week?" I asked, catching myself before I asked who was babysitting her.

"Bruce is helping me like, control my emotions so I don't set so many things on fire…" She shyly offered. I covered the mouthpiece with my hand,

"I'm so sorry Bruce, I hope on day you can forgive me." I muttered before uncovering the mouthpiece and speaking into it,

"Go ask him Amber, because I can't help you find your pass while I'm on a mission." I ordered her.

"Okay thank you so much Blaise, I have no idea what I would do without you." She gushed.

"I know." I replied before hanging up. I didn't want to waste an extra five minutes on the phone listening to how thankful she was or how I saved the day and am 'a true hero'. I loved the girl to death, that's why I offered to train her but sometimes she really got on my nerves. I smirked as I remembered back to the day I decided to train her. She had been at the base for two weeks and still refused to talk to 'anyone besides the girl who recruited her.'

* * *

_I walked right inside Director Fury's office without knocking and reclined in the chair in front of his desk._

"_When do I get to leave to stalk Tony?" I asked Director Fury. This was the fourth visit to his office this week and he surprisingly still hadn't caved and let me leave. I had hoped that my annoying presence would make him more eager to ship me off. That's why I had been visiting his office once ever few days to ask if I could leave yet._

"_She still refuses to talk to anyone, but you." Fury replied, ignoring my question. I sighed, it had been two weeks already. This girl needed to move on from whatever attachment she thought she had to me. She didn't even know me. I was literally just the one who brought her in. It's not like we bonded at all. At least, I hadn't thought that we had._

"_Because she wants answers, and so far, I'm the only one who's given her any." I smirked as I tried to figure out another excuse to not visit her. Fury shot me a deadly glare._

"_Get your ass downstairs Agent Williams." He ordered. I shrugged and stood up._

"_Detainment units?" I called back over my shoulder on the way out of the office._

"_Cell three." Fury called back. I rolled my eyes, no wonder the poor girl doesn't want to talk to anyone. If you lock someone in a cage they usually don't want to talk to you. I was so lost in thought that as I was walking into the elevator I ran into someone coming out of the elevator and was knocked to the ground. I looked up at the person, scowling, ready to cuss them out, when I realized it was Steve. _

"_I'm so sorry Blaise. I was on my way to Fury's—" I cut him off._

"_It's fine Steve, just a heads up, he's pissed off." I smirked stepping into the elevator._

"_And you have absolutely nothing to do with that right?" Steve jokingly asked._

"_No, of course not!" I grinned as the elevator doors closed. After the doors were completely shut, I let out a relieved breath. That had been the first non-awkward conversation that Steve and I had had in the two months since the Invasion of New York…since he kissed me. We had both decided to keep it a secret and remain friends. Well, mostly me, but we both agreed that we definitely didn't want Tony finding out about the kiss because he would make ours lives living hell. Anyway, I had begun to think that we would never be able to just act like friends again. Fortunately, today proved me wrong. I arrived underground and started to walk towards the detainment units when some dark-haired agent stopped me._

"_Identification please." He ordered, holding out his hand._

"_Blaise Williams." I smirked, giving him a high five instead of giving him my pass._

"_I need your identification Agent Williams." The agent frowned._

"_Seriously? I'm a freaking Avenger! Ice Angel ring any bells?" I protested seeing how far I could push the young Agent. He shook he head and held out his hand for a pass. I frowned and pulled off my sweatshirt so that I was left standing in just my sports bra. I spread my wings and glared at him._

"_This good enough identification?" I asked. He hesitantly nodded and let me through. I smirked and strolled over to detainment unit three. I placed my hand on the keypad and a second later the door unlocked. I threw my sweatshirt in a corner of the room and confidently walked in. The bronze haired women, who was sitting in the corner looked up at me._

"_Oh thank god." Amber sighed, her shoulders instantly relaxing when she realized it was me._

"_I didn't think that you were ever, like, actually going to come." She gave me a small smile, but I kept my face impassive._

"_What do you want from me?" I emotionlessly asked._

"_Answers." She replied without missing a beat. I looked her up and down. Her bronze curly hair was all over the place, her navy blue blouse was rumpled, and her dark brown eyes were trying and failing to conceal her fear._

"_Are you sure? You seem frightened." I coldly probed trying to see if she would stick to her guns._

"_Of course I'm frightened! I have no idea where I am or what's going on!" She protested._

"_Neither did I, but I dealt with it." I shrugged. Amber looked up at me with a betrayed expression on her face._

"_I thought that you would be different from the other agents." She tried once again to appeal to my sympathy._

"_Why? Because they call me an angel?" I scoffed. She gave me a timid nod. I leaned closer to her, "Well, news flash, before the media called me an angel, those who knew me called me a demon, a mutant, and a troublemaker. I am not someone that you should be putting your faith in, my dear." I sneered hoping that I had killed whatever attachment she felt she had to me so that she would begin to trust the other agents. She opened her mouth to reply when my phone went off. I glanced at it,_

"_It's Fury, I have to take this." I told her as I accepted the call before turning on my heel and strolling out of the room. I mockingly waved as I passed the difficult guard and stepped into the elevator._

"_You are being assigned to be Stark's shadow." Fury ordered. I rolled my eyes, if I knew all it would take to get to leave for the mission was a minute long visit I would've done it the night she arrived._

"_Finally." I smirked._

"_Lose the attitude and get your ass to Malibu ASAP." Fury ordered._

"_Yes, sir. I'm on it." I replied, "Oh and by the way, I want to train her."_

"_Bleu?" Fury asked._

"_Bleu." I confirmed, "Have someone else take care of the basic shit and I will help her cope with her powers." I ordered before shoving the phone in my pocket._

* * *

I smirked, in the ten minutes I had been lost in thought the amount of media swarming around the hospital had tripled. Then the door opened and the commotion started. Everyone started pushing their way towards the doors and I could only assume that that meant Tony was exiting the hospital. I hear choruses of 'Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark', but one voice is louder than the others.

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?" The reporter asked, but Tony ignored her and all the other reporters clamoring for his attention as he walked towards his car, which was parked near the bushes near where I was hiding.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody going to kill this guy?" One pushy tabloid asked and that caused Tony to stop in his tracks, take his hand off his door handle and slowly turn around to face the reporter. I took a deep breath and started slowly moving towards the back of Tony's car, knowing that whatever happened next was not going to be good.

"Just saying." The tabloid shrugged as he thrust a phone in Tony's face.

"Is that what you want?" Tony asked taking a deep breath. That's when I got close enough to notice the dangerous glint in his eye. It was the glint that usually preceded a stupid decision. The last time I had seen that glint, Tony threatened a god without a suit of armor on. That glint is what made me decide to get in the backseat of the car,

"Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died, pal." Tony confidently told the camera as he took off his mostly see through sunglasses,

"I'm going to come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address:" At that moment I literally face palmed into my hand. It's one thing to threaten a terrorist, but giving him your home address is insane…no matter who you are.

"10880, Malibu Point, 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked." Tony finished and grabbed the tabloid's phone,

" That's what you wanted, right?" The reporter nervous nodded, slightly put off by Tony's outburst. Tony chucked the reporter's phone against a brick pillar and the crowd gasped. They were probably all wondering if Tony had gone insane. If their favorite eccentric billionaire had finally lost it. I chuckled to myself, Tony had lost it months ago.

"Bill me." Tony flippantly ordered before stepping into his car and peeling out of the parking lot. Despite his fast, reckless driving, I managed to quietly stay hidden on the floor of the back seat. After we had been on the road a few minutes I sat up in the back seat.

"That was a really stupid move." I announced causing him to jump and the car to swerve.

"Jesus, how long have you been back there?" He gasped quickly turning the car back onto our side of the road. I grimaced,

"Sorry, you aren't going to have a panic attack are you? I forgot that you get those now, my bad." I apologized as I climbed up into the front seat.

"How do you know about the panic attacks?" He snapped, ignoring my apology.

"Most people say I forgive you when someone apologizes to them." I pointed out trying to change the subject.

"Most people don't get paid to stalk their friends." Tony retorted.

"I resent that you think that I would even consider doing something like that." I scoffed, feigning innocence.

"You know, I don't like when people lie to me." Tony said as he shot me a pointed look.

"Yeah, well it's in my job description." I calmly replied as I pretended to check out my nails.

"So how long?" Tony asked.

"Two months." I shrugged trying to casually play it off. The car got awkwardly silent,

"Um, so I would ask you how's life going, but…" I trailed off and gave him an apologetic look.

"You already know all about my life." Tony replied shooting me a glare.

"Yeah." I mumbled, and looked out the window, but out of the corner of my eye I could see a grin sneaking its way onto Tony's face.

"So how about you and Capsicle?" He asked.

"Our non-existent relationship is still going strong." I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"When you act like an ass you end up single, no need to be a little bitch about it." Tony condescendingly told me.

"Then how are you in a relationship?" I retorted.

"I'm a genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist who also happens to be a superhero. It's really not that hard to figure out. Oh wait, I forgot that I was talking to a blonde. Do you need me to go over that again princess?" Tony cockily winked at me. I scowled back at him and crossed my arms,

"No, I understood that insult perfectly." I huffed.

"I would certainly hope so, I purposely used small words." He winked at me again.

"You're infuriating." I sighed, as I rested my chin in my hand and looked out the window.

"Five syllables, that's got to break some sort of record." He replied with fake enthusiasm.

"I know that the level of stupidity it takes to threaten and terrorist and to give him your home address breaks some sort of record." I snapped.

"Touché." He muttered and the car got silent again.

"So how are we going to take down the Mandarin?" I asked changing the subject.

"We?" He doubtfully asked.

"Why else would I sneak into your car?" I asked it like it was the most obvious question in the world.

"I thought you missed me, princess." Tony replied, theatrically clutching one hand over his heart like I had wounded him.

"Dude, I've been stalking you for the past two months. If anything, I'm sick of seeing you." I smirked.

"I bet you never get sick of seeing Captain America." Tony teased, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh my god! Why does everything come back to Steve? I haven't even seen him in person for more than five minutes since New York! I've been starting to think that Fury is purposely scheduling missions so that we never see each other. Probably in a big part thanks to you." I scowled.

"Me?" He scoffed.

"Yeah, you. Fury isn't oblivious to everything despite how much you like to think he is. He's as you said, "the spy" He obviously noticed you making suggestive comments left and right about Steve and I's friendship." I glared at him.

"Or maybe he noticed the way you two make googly eyes at each other when the other one enters the room." Tony countered.

"We do not make googly eyes at each other!" I protested.

"Most people would rather deny the truth than face it." Tony calmly replied as he pulled into his long driveway that led to his Mansion.

"That was deep." I complimented him as he turned the car off.

"I have my moments." Tony cockily replied, walking into the house. I rolled my eyes and followed him.

"Jarvis please inform Miss Potts that her sister has come to visit." Tony announced as soon as we entered the building.

"Of course, sir." A British voice replied from the ceiling.

"Wait, are you talking about me?" I asked, unable to believe that Tony thought this would work.

"No, I'm talking about the other blonde girl who decided to pay an unexpected visit." Tony flippantly replied. I casually looked over my shoulder, but saw no one.

"Of course, I'm talking about you." He deadpanned. I rolled my eyes,

"Why Pepper? Why couldn't I be related to you?"

"Obviously because you and I look nothing alike and you and Pepper could pass for siblings from a distance." Tony snarkily replied.

"Does Pepper know she has a 'sister'?" I mockingly asked.

"She will when Jarvis informs her that she is visiting." Tony smirked and began walking down a set of stairs.

"But will she be okay with it?" I countered.

"Eh," He smirked and winked at me, "Let's just say it definitely won't be the worst thing she's ever caught me doing." I shook my head at his antics and followed him down the steps into his lab.

* * *

**_Thanks for the continued support. I hope you enjoy the chapter!_**


	3. Tony is ALWAYS Right

_**Thanks for everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited. It was really encouraging. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I hope to get one or two more out before school starts next week. (heads up after school starts updates will probably drastically slow down.)**_

* * *

Tony slid on a single black glove and rolled up his sleeves as soon as we walked into his large underground lab. As soon as I walked in my eyes were drawn to the wall of Ironman suits on my left, then to the line of expensive parked cars on the back wall and finally the multiple trolleys and tables that were cluttered with what a non-mechanically minded person, such as myself ,would call junk.

"Jarvis, dig up anything you can find on the Mandarin." Tony ordered as he walked over to one of the tables covered in spare parts and tools. I eagerly followed hoping to see him assemble a suit from scratch or something equally as amazing.

"Right away, sir." The A.I. replied.

"Okay, great." Tony muttered to himself as sat down at the table and started to examine a piece of metal.

"What's that?" I asked, trying to look over his shoulder.

"Mach forty-three." He replied, as he poked the metal with a screwdriver causing it to spark.

"It looks like a chunk of metal." I replied, trying to hide my disappointment.

"That's because it is. I have work to do so you can either sit there silently or leave." Tony flippantly replied without giving me second glance.

"Fine." I huffed as I ran my hand through my hair and walked over to a comfortable looking chair. I sat there silently watched him work, bored out of my mind, until I eventually nodded off to sleep.

* * *

I jolted awake to the sound of a door slamming and an angry female voice yelling down to Tony from upstairs,

"TONY STARK WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? THREATENING A TERRORIST? THIS IS A NEW LEVEL OF INSANE!"

"Blaise, go calm down your sister." Tony joking ordered, putting down whatever he had been tinkering with and wiping his hands on an oil stained rag.

"Does she know that she has one yet?" I smirked. Tony smirked back and started to count down,

"Three…two…one." Tony winked and pointed at the ceiling. As if on cue Jarvis relayed Tony's message to Pepper.

"Miss Potts, Mr. Stark has asked me to inform you that your sister is visiting."

"TONY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Pepper yelled from upstairs. Tony pulled me to my feet and pushed me up the stairs in front of him like a human shield. I sheepishly grinned at the angry women with strawberry blonde hair and icy blue eyes.

"Hello, Miss Potts, Tony has told me so much about you." Pepper opened her mouth to respond, but Tony quickly jumped in.

"Pep, I can explain." Pepper crossed her arms and tapped her foot expectantly.

"I am going to draw out a world class terrorist and destroy him…on national television." Tony calmly explained with a flourish toward the news helicopters hovering outside the window. I face palmed at his lack of tact and Pepper let out a long slow breath,

"Do you think before you speak? Or does it just come out?" Pepper asked, looking at Tony like he was an idiot.

"Don't do it. It's a trap." I whispered, but Tony shrugged me off because of course, he _always _knows best,

"It was an impulsive move, I'll give you that, but it's going to be worth it when I kill him."

"OR HE KILLS YOU!" Pepper protested started to get worked up again.

"Don't worry—" Tony started to say, but Pepper cut him off,

"DON'T WORRY? DON'T WORRY? HOW AM I NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WORRIED? I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS AND YOU THREATENED A TERROIST AND APPARENTLY INVITED A SISTER I WASN'T AWARE I HAD OVER FOR A VISIT!" Pepper replied, starting to get hysterical.

"Jarvis has everything on lockdown. We are going to be fine." Tony calmly finished seemingly unaffected by her outburst.

"WE ARE NOT STAYING HERE AFTER YOU GAVE A TERROIST OUR HOME ADDRESS!" Pepper took a deep breath and recollected herself, "I am going upstairs to pack. We can go stay in one of the many houses that the Mandarin hasn't been given the address of." Pepper calmly told him, almost like she was reassuring herself. As soon as she disappeared up the spiral staircase, Tony turned to me,

"That went about as well as could be expected."

"You thought that went well?" I scoffed running my hand through my hair.

"She was only hysterical for about fifteen seconds. Considering the circumstances I would say that went extraordinarily well." Tony rationalized.

"True." I smirked. Tony clapped his hands and teasing winked at me,

"I'm going back down to the lab. Care to join me Miss Potts?"

"Only if you promise not to work on your Ironman suits." I countered. Tony threw his hands up in exasperation,

"Great, now you're starting to sound like your sister." Tony joked rolling his eyes.

"Huh, I guess common sense runs in the family." I tightly smiled back. Tony just waved me off and walked down the steps. I rolled my eyes and reluctantly followed him. Tony sat down on a stool, picked up a yellow remote control and pressed a big red button on it that caused holograms to appear.

"Alright Jarvis, what do you got for me?" He asked looking around at the vast amounts of information, files and pictures floating in front of him. I stood off to the side completely forgotten.

"I've compiled a Mandarin database for you, sir. Drawn from S.H.I.E.L.D., F.B.I., and C.I.A. intercepts." Jarvis informed him. Tony grabbed the picture of the Chinese Theater after the Mandarin attack and enlarged it to life size.

"Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction." Jarvis announced and started to create a 3-D model of the theater before and after the attack.

"Okay, what do we got here? His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle… meaning "adviser to the King"… South American insurgency tactics… talks like a Baptist preacher." Tony muttered to himself as he tried to connect the dots.

"There's lots of pageantry going on here...lots of theater." He sighed as he scratched the back of his head. Suddenly, Tony closed his fist and the data shrunk down to an unreadable size.

"Close." He ordered and the data disappeared leaving just the crime scene.

"The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly." Jarvis informed him as the AI projected silhouettes of the vaporized victims.

"Damn." I muttered letting out a low whistle.

"No bomb parts found in a three mile radius of the Chinese theater?" Tony solemnly asked, thoughtfully gazing around the crime scene.

"No, sir." The AI replied sounding disappointed to have to give Tony the news. Tony examined the projection of Happy near his feet and sighed,

"Talk to me, Happy." A few seconds later I saw his eyes lit up and he walked over to a table.

"Tony what did you find?" I asked running my hand through my hair anxiously.

"When is a bomb not a bomb?" He muttered back giving no sign that he heard me. I rolled my eyes and walked over behind him, tired of trying to follow his train of thought. He pulled up a picture of dog tags that were found on the scene.

"Any military victims?" Tony asked.

"Not according to public records, sir." Jarvis replied. Tony thoughtfully frowned and climbed up on top of an elevated platform to look at the scene from above. I flew up next to him not wanted to miss out on whatever he was trying to figure out.

"Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in three thousand degrees." He ordered looking down over the lab.

"The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now." Jarvis replied projecting a map of the United States onto the floor of the lab with red dots showing where all the attacks had happened.

"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack." Tony ordered and two thirds of the dots disappeared. Tony carefully scanned through the accident sites looking for one with a high enough heat signature to rival the Mandarin attacks.

"Nope." He sighed, shooting location after location down until he spotted an incident that occurred in Rose Hill, Tennessee.

"That." He pointed causing Jarvis to supply more information," You sure that's not one of his?" He asked.

"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide." Jarvis reassured him. Tony smirked and I grinned, thrilled to finally have a lead.

"Bring her around." Tony excitedly ordered.

"The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius." Jarvis announced. Tony scanned through the information.

"That's two military guys." He muttered to himself.

"Ever been to Tennessee, Jarvis?" He asked the AI. I frowned, disappointed to be left out, but I figured I could just follow him…even if I wasn't invited.

"Creating a flight plan for Tennessee." Jarvis replied. Tony smirked and waved both his hands causing the holograms to disappear. A second later the doorbell rang and an image appeared of a brunette waiting at his door appeared on a screen beside us. My head snapped toward him,

"I thought you were on total lockdown?" I sarcastically asked him, quirking an eyebrow.

"Me too." He muttered back before starting to lecture Jarvis.

"Are we still at "'ding-dong'? We're supposed to be on total security lock down." He sighed and pounded his fist on the table emphasizing every syllable in total security lockdown, "Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?"

"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address." Jarvis retorted, justifying why the doorbell rang. I thought about commented on his sassiness, but one look at Tony's anxious face changed my mind. Tony hopped down from the platform and his suit assembled around him.

"Do you want me to cover you?" I asked planning on doing it anyways regardless of his answer.

"Um, yeah…just stay hidden until either I'm attacked or I attack her." He replied just before the faceplate slid into place. I frowned at the vague instructions and headed up the steps hoping to find a decent hiding spot, Tony hot on my heels. I hid behind the couch and he stopped in his tracks,

"Really? Behind the couch? Is that the best place you can think of to hide?" He snarkily asked.

"Shut up and answer the door." I scowled.

"Jarvis open the door." He ordered and then turned to look at me, "Happy now Princess?" I rolled my eyes and flipped him off before ducking behind the couch. I heard the sound of high heels clicking against Tony's tile floors and a female voice echoed around the room,

"Hello?" I heard Tony's metallic feet walk forward to greet her.

"Right there's fine." He ordered. Then there was an awkward silence.

"You're not the Mandarin, are you?" Tony coldly asked lifting his face plate. I slowly came out from behind the couch still cautious to stay out of sight, but no longer believing that the guest was a threat.

"You don't remember. Why am I not surprised?" The female asked. I smirked to myself. One of Tony's ex-girlfriends, if you could call them girlfriends, had come to pay a visit. This should be fun to watch.

"Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast." Tony quickly replied.

"Gluten-free waffles." Jarvis and I both simultaneously replied..

"That's right." Tony replied still emotionless.

"Okay, look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent." She explained, her eyes dancing around the room like she was looking for audio bugs. Tony narrowed his eyes and her and turned to walk back into the living room.

"Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed relationship." As he stepped out from under the balcony two bags landed beside him.

"With her." Tony sighed. I grinned and walked over to him,

"Uh-oh Tony, looks like your time's up. Better get packing." I teased. Tony glared at me and stepped out of his suit.

"Who's that?" The brunette asked, pointing at me.

"Pepper's little sister." I smirked.

"Tony, is somebody there?" Pepper called down from upstairs.

"Good luck talking your way out of this one." I chuckled running my hand through my hair.

"Uh, yeah, it's Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know." Tony casually replied causing Maya to grin, relieved. I spun my finger in a circle telling him to keep talking.

"Barely." He tacked on and I gave him a thumbs up. Tony turned to Maya,

"Please don't tell me that there is a twelve year-old kid waiting in the car that I've never met." Tony quietly begged as he kept an eye on Pepper walking down the stairs.

"He's thirteen." Maya calmly replied causing Tony's eyes to widen in panic.

"No, I need your help." She scoffed rolling her eyes.

"What...what for? Why now?" Tony stuttered out still recovering from the 'kid waiting in the car' joke.

"Because I read the papers, and, frankly, I don't think you'll last the week." Maya explained.

"Hey, that makes three of us." I smirked, casually leaning against the couch.

"I'll be fine." Tony quickly replied shooting me a look.

"Whatever you say." I muttered, rolling my eyes and running my hand through my hair as Pepper walked over to join us.

"I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests." Pepper politely greeted us.

"We weren't." Tony quickly reassured her.

"I just showed up." I shrugged.

"No, I..." Maya tried to explain, but Pepper cut her off,

"Or old girlfriends."

"I'm way out of his league." I smirked.

"Blaise shut up. Maya's not really…" Tony's explanation trailed off and Maya quickly jumped in to help him explain.

"No, not really. It...it was just one night." Maya shrugged.

"Yep." Tony quickly agreed, nodding his head.

"That's how you did it, isn't it?" Pepper condescendingly asked.

"It was a great night." Tony replied and I made a mental note to sign him up for some social etiquette classes. The man was a genius, but seemed hopeless when came to knowing how to not piss Pepper off.

"Ew. Baby barf." I said between fake gagging fits.

"Yeah." Tony muttered to himself, awkwardness rolling off him in waves.

"Yep. Well, you know you have saved yourself a world of pain." Pepper cheerfully informed Maya.

"Amen to that." I smirked.

"I'm sure." Maya empathetically agreed.

"Wait what?" Tony protested, his head snapping towards Pepper.

"Trust me." Pepper told Maya, fighting a small smile that tugged on the edge of her lips from Tony's indignation.

"Tony, we're going out of town." Pepper firmly told him.

"Okay, we've been through this. Nope." Tony replied raising his voice slightly.

"Yup!" Pepper shouted back.

"The man says no." Tony firmly told her.

"The man also thought it was a good idea to threaten a terrorist." I scoffed rolling my eyes causing Tony to swing his elbow back into my stomach. I gritted my teeth and glared at him.

"Immediately and indefinitely!" Pepper yelled back at Tony.

"Honey..." Tony sighed, trying a different approach.

"Great idea. Let's go. I'll..." Maya chimed in starting to walk over towards Pepper's bags, but Tony cut her off,

"I'm sorry. That's a terrible idea. Please don't touch her bags." He ordered. I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes.

"Tony, this is how normal people behave." Pepper tried to reason with him.

"I can't protect you out there. I challenged..." Tony's protests were interrupted by Maya,

"Is...is that normal?" She asked, pointed at a giant stuffed rabbit.

"Yes, this is normal!" Tony replied, angrily pointing at the rabbit.

"Sadly, that...is very normal." Pepper sighed.

"It's a big bunny, relax about it!" Tony yelled.

"Sounds like you're the one who needs to relax." I muttered, this time prepared for Tony's elbow when he tried to swing back to hit me.

"Calm down!" Pepper ordered.

"I got it for you." Tony said, pointing at the rabbit.

"I'm aware of that." Pepper sighed.

"You still haven't even told me that you liked it!" Tony argued gesturing wildly at the rabbit.

"I don't like it!" Pepper protested.

"I asked you three... You don't like it?!" Tony asked completely bewildered. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Maya who was staring intently at the television.

"Tony, we are leaving the house; that's not even up for discussion." Pepper ordered as I slowly walked over towards Maya, hoping not to draw the attention of the arguing couple, but unable to fight my curiosity.

"I said no." Tony shrugged. I reached Maya and started to panic as soon as I saw what she was staring at. There was a missile headed towards Tony's mansion.

"Guys, can we um..." Maya tried to interrupt the pair, but they ignored her.

"HEY!" I yelled causing both of their heads to snap towards us.

"What?" Tony asked, obviously fed up with me. I looked at Maya.

"Do we need to worry about that?" She asked pointing at the screen behind her. Tony whirled around to face the window and that's when the missile hit, shattering the window and sending everyone flying in different directions. As soon as I hit the floor I tucked into a roll and rolled back up to my feet. I frantically looked around for everyone else. I saw Tony across the room and Ironman sitting a few feet away from him. I shook my head to make sure I wasn't imagining things, but neither of the figures disappeared, bringing me to the conclusion that they were both real. Suddenly the ceiling over Tony and large chunks of plaster fell down towards the unprotected man. Right before the plaster crushed Tony, Ironman dove over him and shielded Tony with its body.

"I got you." I heard Pepper's voice from inside the Ironman suit tell him and I grinned, relieved that I wasn't hallucinating.

"I got you first. Like I said, we can't stay here." Tony replied, his ego unwilling to admit that he had just been saved by a girl or that Pepper was right all along. I pulled up my hood and cautiously started to over to the pair when the second wave of missiles hit.

"Move! I'm right behind!" Tony ordered and we all took off towards the door, but before we could reach it the floor in front of Tony and I collapsed.

"Get her, I'm going find a way around." He told Pepper, pointing at Maya, but Pepper was unwilling to leave him.

"Stop stopping! Get her, get outside! Go!" Tony snapped, his harsh tone finally snapping Pepper into action. She lowered the face plate and scooped Maya into her arms. Soon the pair were out of sight. Tony pushed me towards the door.

"Go!" He yelled.

"Hell no!" I yelled back, trying to dodge falling pieces of ceiling.

"I'm not messing around get the hell out of here!" He ordered as another blast, rocked the house.

"I'm not messing around either! Don't fucking tell me what to do!" I shouted back at him. Another missile hit the building causing the floor to tilt towards the ocean sending both of us sliding towards the window. Tony grabbed a metal bar and swung himself up to safety. I tensed up and streamlined my body, ready to break through the glass, when something grabbed the back of my sweatshirt.

"Let go!" I scowled at him.

"No! You'll get hurt!" He protested, gripping my sweatshirt tighter.

"I CAN FLY YOU IDIOT! LET GO!" I screamed, but Tony still refused to let go.

"Sir, Miss Potts is clear of the structure." Jarvis announced.

"Good luck." Tony smirked, finally letting go of my sweatshirt. I crashed through the window into the open air and freefell for a few seconds before spreading my wings. I immediately went after one of the five helicopters, trickling water into its engine. Then after a few seconds I froze the water, sending the helicopter crashing into the water. I looked over at the helicopter next to me only to see a flaming piano knock it out of the air.

"Holy shit." I muttered as I dodged the falling debris. I started flying over towards the helicopter that was open firing bullets into Tony's house, when it erupted into a ball of flames. I aimed a blast of ice at the tail of one of the two remaining helicopters before Tony could. The end was ripped apart from the machine, sending it spiraling out of control towards the house. I started muttering unintelligible cusses under my breath as I tried to reroute the helicopter, but all my attempts were unsuccessful. The helicopter crashed into the house, sending half of the house crashing into the ocean.

"Tony." I gasped, diving towards the wreckage when I felt a sharp pain in my right wing and I started to spiral out of control. I gritted my teeth and painfully folding my wings back, diving into the water full speed. I frantically swam towards a sinking, white, glowing, light. Then suddenly another chunk of house fell on top of the light, plunging us into darkness. I scowled, but continued to blindly swim towards where I had seen the light disappear. Suddenly then it reappeared. When I got closer I realized it was Tony's hand. I firmly gripped it and pulled as hard as I could, freeing Tony from the rubble. I expected him to let go of my hand once I freed him, but he just gripped harder and pulled me onto his back. I shrugged wrapped my arms around his neck. I mean, I wasn't going to turn down a free ride and he rocketed out of the ocean. I kept expecting him to double back to Pepper, but he just kept flying.

"Tony?" I nervously asked looking back over my shoulder at the destroyed house, but he didn't respond.

"Tony!" I tried again, this time slapping his shoulder, but there was still no response. I scowled he was probably unconscious and I couldn't even fly away because my wing was injured. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and decided to just enjoy the ride…wherever we were going.

* * *

_**I'm already partially done with the next chapter...it's shaping up to be a long one!**_


	4. Flightless in Rose Hill

_**Here we go...this is my longest chapter ever! And I am going to apologize in advance because school is starting tomorrow and that means I won't be bale to update as often. My goal is going to once a month, but sometimes it may not happen. So I'm really super sorry in advance, but here's a super long chapter to hopefully tide you over.**_

* * *

**FLIGHTLESS IN ROSE HILL**

* * *

We had been flying for hours. I still had no clue where we were or where we were heading, but for the past hour we had been flying through a blinding snowstorm and I had yet to spot a town below us. I wasn't completely sure if that was because the snow was so heavy that I only ever caught glimpses of the ground below me or if the ground below us was truly completely covered in a forest of pine trees or maybe it was a combination of both. Suddenly, Tony's suit began to shift around causing me to wrap my arms tighter around his neck.

"Alright, kill the alarm. I got it." Tony mumbled.

"Oh thank god! I thought you died." I gasped, wrapping my arms even tighter around Tony's neck. He had been unconscious so long that I wasn't sure if he was going to wake up again.

"Shut up." He mumbled, waving his hand dismissively.

"Whatever. It's not like I saved your life or anything." I scowled and rolled my eyes. Suddenly Tony started to spazz out, causing me to hold on for my life.

"What are you doing?" I snapped trying to keep myself from falling off his back down into the white abyss.

"WHOAAAAA!" Tony yelled in response as the suit started to plummet towards the ground without any sign of slowing down soon. As we drew closer to the ground I could make out that we were on a collision course with the straight black lines of a road and the soft yellow glow of oncoming headlights.

"Tony? Tony! TONY THERE'S A CAR!" I yelled, slapping his helmet to get his attention as we got closer to the road, but Tony still didn't pull up out of the out of control, ungraceful dive.

"Fantastic." I muttered as I pulled my feet up under me so that I was crouching on his back. Right before Tony bounced off the top of the car I launched myself off his back onto the nearby snow covered ground. When I rolled to a stop I looked up the road to where Tony had roughly skidded to a stop. I pushed myself to my feet and started to try to run over to him, but the snow was too deep and I just wiped out, falling face first into the snow. I scowled and slowly got to my feet as I brushed off all the snow that was no coating the front of my outfit. I sighed and started to run my hand through my hand through my hand in frustration when I got an idea. I carefully raised my hand and put a layer of ice thick enough to hold my body weight on top of the snow that continued all the way to Tony like a sidewalk. Then I created blades of ice on the bottom of my combat boots to make homemade ice skates. I pushed off the first step and it worked like a charm. I chuckled to myself as I skated the rest of the way down the path. When I reached him, he was sitting upright in the suit breathing heavily.

"That's brisk!" Tony announced even though he didn't know there was anyone else around to hear it.

"Well, duh, it's snowing and it's almost Christmas." I smirked as I skated up to him.

"I was hoping that I had imagined your voice earlier." Tony sighed, rubbing his hands together for warmth.

"That is not a very nice thing to say to someone who saved your life." I mockingly chastised as I skated circles around him. Tony flicked me off and started to lay back down in the suit.

"Maybe I'll just cozy back up for a bit." He said, rubbing his arms.

"I actually think I need to sleep now, sir." Jarvis replied as the suit shut off.

"Jarvis… Jarvis? Don't leave me, buddy." Tony pleaded.

"Wow. That's a bummer." I sighed, sliding to a stop.

"Can you not be annoying for five seconds?" He asked.

"I don't know, can you?" I scoffed.

"See this why no one likes you." Tony snapped.

"Really, I thought it was because I hung out with you." I retorted. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly closed it.

"You know this whole thing is your fault." Tony said, his voice calm, almost emotionless.

"I'm not the one who threatened a terrorist and then invited him to come blow up my house." I sneered.

"If you weren't clinging onto my suit then I wouldn't have lost power so quickly." Tony snapped back.

"A) it was a prototype and was going to die regardless of what I did. B) you kind of dragged me along for the ride." I coldly replied.

"You can fly. Don't give me that shit." Tony glared at me furiously rubbing his arms.

"No my wing has actually been shot up pretty bad. Hence, the ice skates." I argued, pointing at the makeshift ice skates that were still on my feet. Tony didn't say anything, he just kept glaring at me and shivering.

"Are you cold?" I sighed.

"How are you not?" He retorted.

"Genetics." I smirked, "Oh and maybe you should try rolling down your sleeves."

"I hate you." He muttered , but he didn't unroll his sleeves.

"Join the club." I joked, "And to think I was going to give you my sweatshirt."

"No! Sorry. Can I have the sweatshirt now?" Tony asked. I rolled my eyes and sighed,

"Only because you look so pathetic." I smirked, as I pulled off my light blue sweatshirt, leaving me standing in just a sports bra, black leggings and combat boots. Tony gratefully smiled back and slid the sweatshirt over his head.

"Thank you." Tony grumbled as he slowly stood up.

"No problem, just promise that as soon as we find shelter you'll look at my wing. I think there's still a bullet or two lodged in it." I replied giving him a small smile.

"Yeah, sure." He replied, waving me off. I rolled my eyes.

"Is that a yes?" I slowly asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Maybe." He flippantly replied.

"Can you not being annoying for five seconds?" I asked, quoting him from earlier.

"Pepper seems to think so." Tony smugly grinned back.

"Pepper seemed pretty pissed at you earlier." I reminded him as I gently lobbed a snowball at his smug face. Tony easily batted the snowball away.

"Because I threatened a terrorist!" Tony protested. I chuckled to myself,

"You two complement each other well. When are you going to ask her to marry you?" I asked, changing the subject. Tony's head snapped towards me.

"What?!"

"What? Are you scared?" I taunted.

"No, I'm waiting for the right moment." He defensively replied.

"Come on! You've fought terrorists, aliens, Heck, you even…"

"Don't say it!" Tony snapped.

"Went through a wormhole into a different dimension!" I continued, ignoring his interruption, "I think you can handle asking…Tony?" I paused, noticing that he was clutching his chest.

"Shit! Is this a panic attack?" I asked, starting to freak out. Tony wordlessly nodded, his eyes practically bugging out of his head. I panicked and did the only thing I could think of…I slapped him across the face.

"What was that for?" He exclaimed once he had caught his breath.

"I panicked?" I sheepishly explained.

"_You _panicked?" Tony incredulously asked, "What about me?"

"It was a reflex!" I protested.

"Who slaps someone when they're having a panic attack?!" Tony exclaimed, "You know what, don't answer that. I don't even want to know what you were thinking."

"But—" I started to defend myself, but Tony interrupted me,

"No! Just stop talking. I don't want to hear it. I'm done talking to you." Tony coldly replied as he slowly stood up. He took off his belt, looped it under the suit's arms, and started trudging away from me through the snow. I rolled my eyes and skated after him.

"Do you want skates?" I asked, but he kept his eyes straight forward, ignoring me. I skated around in front of him,

"Do you at least want me to help you carry that thing?" I sighed, but once again Tony didn't reply.

"Are you going to act like a child this entire trip?" I asked, rolling my eyes, but there was still no response.

"Fine." I sighed and settled for skating along beside him in silence.

* * *

After skating alongside Tony through the snow in silence for about fifteen minutes we finally saw the glow of lights. As we got closer I realized it was an old Texaco gas station. The little old station was practically abandoned. The only signs of life were the multi-colored Christmas lights around the window and the lone pick-up truck parked in the back lot.

Tony pulled the suit up under the overhang in front of the shop so it was sheltered from the snow and I reluctantly followed him. Tony ripped a poncho off a wooden Indian that was a decoration for the pathetic gas station and pulled it on over top of my sweatshirt.

"Stay here with the suit." Tony ordered and he walked over to the payphone.

"Yes sir." I mockingly saluted back. Tony rolled his eyes and stepped inside the payphone. I couldn't hear what he said, but I hoped he was calling Pepper. She cared about him and deserved to know that he was safe. A minute later he walked back out, grabbed the suit, and started trudging through the snow again.

"Who did you call?" I asked as I jogged to catch up with him.

"Pepper." He solemnly answered.

"Did she pick up?" I asked as a follow up.

"No." He sighed.

"I'm sorry Tony, but I know she's going to be thrilled to get the message. She probably thinks you're dead. She probably thinks I'm dead too, but she probably couldn't care less about me." I tried to encourage him.

"No, I told her that her "sister" was alive too because that's one of the amazing things about Pepper, she may have just met you a couple of hours ago, but she cares what happens to you and most likely was even worrying about you this entire time." Tony seriously told me. I smiled to myself,

"She sounds like a great person."

"She is." Tony longingly replied with a far off look in his eyes. I smirked and decided to leave him to his thoughts. The poor man had been through enough today.

After a few minutes a small abandoned-looking farmhouse came into view. Tony quickened his pace,

"We're crashing there tonight." Tony said, pointing at the farmhouse.

"We already crashed one time today don't you think that's enough?" I joked trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

"You're hilarious." Tony sarcastically replied.

"It's a gift," I smirked, running my hand through my hair, "Can I try to kick down the door?"

"Kick down the door?" Tony slowly asked.

"It's a dream of mine." I seriously replied.

"Since when?" Tony scoffed.

"Since five minutes ago when I saw the door." I grinned.

"I'm going to find crowbar for when you screw up." Tony teasingly replied.

"I'm going to find a crowbar for when you screw up." I mocked him, deepening my voice.

"I don't sound like that." Tony called back over his shoulder, holding up one finger as he walked around the side of the building.

"You're right, I forgot the overwhelming arrogance." I snapped back, running my hand through my hair. Tony did respond so I started to eye up the door. I took a step back from it and kicked the door as hard as I could and fell on my butt.

"Shit." I hissed, quickly looking around to see if Tony had seen it. Luckily he wasn't back yet. I quickly, decided to pick the lock and knelt beside the door. I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair and jammed it into the lock.

"Couldn't kick down the door could you?" Tony taunted, flipping a crowbar back and forth between his hands.

"Shut up." I sighed, stepping back from the door. Tony pried the door open the door with the crowbar he found, pulled off his poncho, and dragged his suit in to a small plaid couch. I quickly looked around the room. It looked like a less expensive, smaller, more cluttered version of Tony's lab. I picked up the poncho on my way in figuring that we could use it for bandages.

"Let's get you comfy." Tony told the suit as he sat down beside it. He adjusted its hand so it was resting on its knee and faced its head forward.

"Can I have my sweatshirt back now?" I asked. I was tired of walking around in the snow practically half-naked even though the cold didn't bother me.

"You happy now?" He asked the suit, ignoring me.

"Tony, you promised to get the bullets out of my wing." I reminded him.

"I did? Oh right I did. Hop up on the table." He dismissively ordered, pointing to a table with tons of spare parts on top of it while he rifled through a tool kit.

"Tony there's stuff on that table." I pointed out to him with a tight smile.

"Move it." He shrugged.

"I'm going to stay standing up." I firmly replied, crossing my arms.

"Fine, suit yourself." He flippantly shrugged. I closed my eyes and slowly spread out my wing. Tony let out a low whistle,

"You weren't kidding that's a lot of bullet holes."

"Yeah, I know." I replied through gritted teeth. That's when my sweatshirt hit me in the back of the head.

"There's seven holes total. Three still have bullets in them." He told me.

"Great, get them out." I snapped, just wanting the bullets to be out of me already so that the wounds could start to heal. I felt his hand move some feathers aside and the painful twinge of the tweezers grasping the bullet. I gritted my teeth, refusing to cry out in pain. Tony was good. He pulled them out quickly and tried to be gentle about it, but it still hurt. Tony laid the last bullet down on the desk and threw the poncho at me.

"Wrap it up." He ordered before moving over to the table and starting to fiddle with something he had injected into his arm. I sighed, walked over to the couch, and started to rip the poncho in bandage sized pieces.

"Freeze! Don't move." A voice ordered. Tony and I's heads snapped up. Thankfully because I was in a darker corner of the room the voice, a young boy, was focused on Tony. I gently laid the poncho on the couch and slowly got up so I wouldn't draw the boy's attention. Tony put his hands up and froze.

"You got me. Nice potato gun. Barrel's a little long. Between that and the wide gauge, it's going to diminish your FPS." Tony replied, unimpressed as he analyzed the gun.. The boy fired the gun at a mason jar on a shelf as if to say 'see look, it works just fine'.

"And now you're out of ammo." Tony sighed and put his hands back down on the desk, "Blaise come out."

"I need your help wrapping the bandages." I coldly told him as I threw the poncho strips at his face.

"Right now?" Tony whined, unfortunately catching the poncho before it could hit him.

"Yes right now. I don't want the bullet holes to get infected." I scowled.

"Who's that?" The boy warily asked.

"I'm his sister, Blaise." I cut in before Tony could say anything.

"She's adopted." Tony added to make the lie more believable as he glared at me.

"What's that thing on your chest?" The boy untrustingly asked Tony.

"It's an electromagnet. You should know, you've got a box of them right here." Tony snarkily replied tapping a box of magnets. I gently hit his arm,

"Be nice, he can still call the cops." I reminded him through a forced smile.

"What does it power?" The boy asked, still not lowering his gun. Tony hesitated for a moment before flipped a light towards his suit that was still sitting on the couch.

"Oh my God!" The boy gasped, dropping his gun and taking a step towards us, "That...that's... Is that Iron Man?" He asked awestruck.

"Technically, I am." Tony proudly replied.

"You just can't help yourself can you?" I smirked, shaking my head at him.

"Technically, you're dead." The boy replied, hitting tony in the chest with a newspaper. Tony unrolled the paper and I peeked over his shoulder at the headline "Mandarin Attack: Stark Presumed Dead."

"A valid point." Tony muttered.

"I didn't even get a mention." I gasped, feigning hurt.

"Get over yourself princess." Tony replied, slapping my across the head with the paper. Meanwhile the boy had walked over to the suit,

"What happened to him?" The boy asked, peering into the suit's eyes.

"Life. I built him, I take care of him. I'll fix him." Tony flippantly replied, throwing the newspaper onto the floor.

"Like a mechanic?" The boy asked.

"Yeah." Tony quietly replied.

"Oh. If I was building Iron Man and War Machine..." The boy started to say something, but Tony quickly cut him off,

"It's Iron Patriot now."

"That's way cooler!" The boy exclaimed

"No, it's not." Tony snapped. The boy shrugged and continued,

"Anyways, I would have added in um... the retro..."

"Retroreflective panels?" Tony asked surprised that the boy knew what those were. I didn't even know what those were. The boy eagerly nodded,

"To make him stealth mode."

"You want a stealth mode?" Tony asked.

"Cool, right?" The boy grinned.

"That's actually a good idea. Maybe I'll build one." Tony thoughtfully replied right as the boy accidently ripped off one of Ironman's fingers.

"Oops!" The boy unapologetically replied.

"Not a good idea! What are you doing? You're going to break his finger? He's in pain, he's been injured. Leave him alone." Tony snapped.

"Sorry." The boy softly replied.

"Are you?" Tony asked, before calming himself down and brushing off the incident, "Don't worry about it, I'll fix it. So, uh, who's home?

"Well, my mom already left for the diner and dad went to 7-Eleven to get scratchers. I guess he won, 'cause that was six years ago." The boy flippantly replied.

"Mm. Which happens, dads leave. No need to be a pussy about it." Tony callously shrugged, "Here's what I need: a laptop, a digital watch, a cell phone, the pneumatic actuator from your bazooka over there, a map of town, a big spring, and a tuna fish sandwich."

"You're so polite Tony." I sarcastically told him as I mouthed an apology to the boy, "Would you being willing to give us some bandages and some disinfectant as well? I've been shot." I kindly added on to the end of his list.

"What's in it for me?" The boy asked, turning Ironman's finger over in his hand.

"Salvation. What's his name?" Tony asked without missing a beat.

"Who?" The boy asked, thoroughly confused.

"The kid that bullies you at school, what's his name?" Tony repeated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How'd you know that?" The boy replied, his voice lacking some of its previous bravado.

"I got just the thing." Tony told him as he walked over to his suit. He pressed a button and a small metal object popped out.

"This is a piñata for a cricket. I'm kidding, it's a very powerful weapon. Point it away from your face, press the button on top. It discourages bullying. Non-lethal, just to cover one's ass." Tony told him as he held out the device. The boy reached out to grab the device, but Tony kept it out of reach until the boy agreed to his terms,

"Deal? Deal? What'd you say?" Tony repeated like a broken record.

"Deal." The boy finally replied.

"Deal?" Tony asked one last time as he handed him the device and the boy nodded.

"What's your name?" Tony asked as the boy inspected his new device.

"Harley. And you're..." Harley trailed off waiting for a response.

"The mechanic." Tony replied, but Harley gave him a look causing Tony to relent and give him a name,

"Tony." Tony paused and looked at the boy for a few moments,

"You know what keeps going through my head? Where's my sandwich?" Tony rudely asked. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

"You could make your own sandwich." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"And you could treat your own wounds." Tony snapped back.

"No, actually I can't. They're just out of my reach." I retorted.

"Where were you shot?" Harley interrupted our argument and I looked at Tony,

"Last chance." I threatened knowing that as soon as I pulled my wings out the whole siblings lie would be scratched. Tony shrugged and waved for me to go ahead. I slowly stretched out my typically almost white wing that was now stained with blood.

"You're…you're…" Harley stuttered, but I interrupted him,

"Bleeding, yes, I know."

"No you're Ice Angel." He gasped.

"Ha! I told you people would recognize me!" I taunted Tony.

"Well of course they will after you show them your wings. How many other humans are genetically engineered to have wings?" Tony scoffed.

"Shut up." I scowled, flipping him off before turning to Harley,

"I can help you with Mr. Needy over here's list."

"Hey! I am not needy." Tony protested.

"You're right. I'm sorry is spoiled a better description?" I retorted. Tony rolled his eyes and went back to fiddling with whatever he had injected into his arm.

"I can show you…" Harley trailed off pointing towards the rest of the house.

"Yeah, lets go." I nodded, following him out of the room.

* * *

After twenty minutes Harley and I had gathered together Harley's sister's digital Dora watch, a flip phone, the pneumatic actuator that we had managed to get out of his potato gun, a possibly out dated map of town, a big spring from an old mattress, a tuna fish sandwich, a glass a water that we may or may not have salted, a change of clothes for Tony so that I could get my sweatshirt back, and he had bandaged and disinfected my wounds. During that time I learned that Harley was practically a mini Tony. The kid was brilliant, manipulative, and knew how to get what he wanted. The only difference was that Harley wasn't an arrogant asshole most of the time.

When we gave Tony what he wanted all he said was finally and kicked us out of his newly established lab. Then he threw the salted water at us a minute later causing Harley and I to die laughing. Then after twenty minutes of playing cards Harley showed me a room down the hall where I could clean up and sleep.

I woke up to a cup of ice water being dumped on my head about thirty minutes later.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, jolting awake.

"We're leaving." Tony announced, as he walked out of the room.

"I hate you." I called after him, running my hand through my soaking wet hair.

"Get in line." He flippantly replied. I groaned and put my face back in my pillow, imagining ways to kill the annoying billionaire. After a minute of fantasizing about Tony's death, I got up and shuffled over to the lab.

"What time is it?" I grumbled.

"Around seven." Tony dismissively replied.

"A.M?" I scowled.

"No at night. That's why it's dark out." Tony smirked at me, "Come on, grab Harley, We're leaving."

"Fine." I grumbled. I stepped out into the hallway and yelled,

"Harley we're leaving!" Tony's head popped out from behind the door.

"I could've done that. Go find him." He snapped. I rolled my eyes and waiting a few seconds. Sure enough Harley came bounding out from a room down the hall.

"I'm ready." He eagerly grinned. I smirked at his enthusiasm and ruffled his hair before pounding my fist on Tony's door,

"We're just waiting on you big guy." Seconds later the door swung open revealing Tony, dressed in an ugly brown coat and brown ball cap.

"Do you have a car that we can drive to town?" He asked Harley as we walked out of the house.

"No."

"I know how we can get to town." I grinned. With a flourish of my hand blades of ice appeared on out feet and a path of ice appeared in front of us.

"That is so cool!" Harley exclaimed as he took off down the path. I stuck my tongue out at Tony as if to say 'I told you so' and took off after Harley.

When we got close to town I made the skates disappear and the three of us walked into town.

"Tony where are we going?" I asked him.

"To church." He flippantly replied. I rolled my eyes and didn't bother to ask a follow up question. I assumed that we were going to the local explosion site.

"What did you think of the stuff we got you?" Harley asked and I inwardly cringed knowing that Tony had been waiting for an opportunity like this.

"The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do. By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kind of hoping for something a little more than that." Tony rattled off. Harley and I laughed.

"She's six! Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?" Harley asked.

"Maybe never, relax about it." Tony quickly replied.

"What about The Avengers, can you talk about them?" Harley persisted.

"I don't know, later." Tony shrugged and pushed Harley away, "Hey kid, give me a little space."

"Tony he's not even that close to you." I pointed out, but Tony ignored me to examine the explosion site. It was a cement block building with two of the walls and ceiling missing. A memorial was set up in the one corner, surrounded by five shadows.

"What's the official story here? What happened?" Tony asked Harley.

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here." Harley explained sitting down near the memorial as Tony looked around at the suspicious looking shadows. I joined Harley on the ground and watched Tony thoughtfully pace around the site.

"Six people died, right?" Tony asked.

"Yeah." Harley confirmed.

"Including Chad Davis?" Tony checked.

"Yeah." Harley nodded.

"Yeah. That doesn't make sense." Tony sighed, sitting down next to Harley. Harley and I looked at him for a further explanation.

"Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows." Tony continued.

"Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five." Harley softly replied, wiping his face.

"Do you buy that?" Tony asked. I frowned and got up to look at the evidence myself. I avoided the flowers and pictures that people had left as a memorial to the victims and examined the shadows much like Tony had.

"That's what everyone says." Harley justified. Tony just thoughtfully nodded his head in response.

Looking back, if I had paid attention to Harley and Tony's conversation I could've saved us a lot of trouble, but at the time I thought it was more important to examine the shadows.

"You know what this crater reminds me of?" Harley asked.

"No idea. I'm not...I don't care." Tony coldly replied.

"That giant wormhole, in um...in New York. Does it remind you?" Harley probed, trying to get a reaction.

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it." Tony dismissively replied.

"Are they coming back? The aliens?" Harley persisted, ignoring that Tony told him to stop.

"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?" Tony snapped.

"Does this subject make you...make you edgy?" Harley nervously asked.

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?" Tony said between heavy breaths.

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you...do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?" Harley asked, rapidly firing one question after the next while Tony grimaced in pain.

"Nope." Tony breathed out.

"Do you need to be on it?" Harley fired back.

"Probably." Tony grunted.

"Do you have PTSD?" Harley retorted. Tony paused,

"I don't think so."

"Are you...are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?"

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, you're going to freak me out!" Tony snapped as he quickly stood up.

"Ah man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?" Tony grimaced.

"What did I say?" Harley protested, but Tony ignored him and ran away from us.

"What the hell?" I snapped at Harley.

"I-I didn't mean to." Harley stuttered.

"Yeah, most people don't." I coldly replied as I took off after Tony.

"Hey, wait up! Wait, wait." Harley called after me as we chased after him. Suddenly after a block of running Tony dropped to his knees and put snow against his face.

"What the hell was that?" Harley asked when we finally caught up to him. Tony's only reply was to throw snow in Harley's face.

"Your fault, you spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died...relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?" Tony asked, finally catching his breath.

"Where she always is." Harley replied, wiping his nose.

"See, now you're being helpful." Tony retorted.

"Lead the way, Harley." I smirked. The boy grinned and started walking towards a bar decorated with multicolored Christmas lights.

"Okay good work, kid. Here's ten bucks go buy some candy across the street." Tony instructed him with a gentle push towards the store. Harley opened his mouth to protest, but I held up my hand to stop him,

"No arguments." I ordered, giving him my most threatening gaze. Harley sulked across the street. As soon as he was out of hearing range Tony tuned to me,

"Go join him." He dismissively ordered with a nod of his head.

"Tony?" I calmly said. He turned to look at me.

"We've been through this before…don't fucking tell me what to do." I snapped.

"Fine." He replied rolling his eyes. Tony tugged the brim of his cap down over his eyes as we walked to the bar. On the way in he ran into a sharp-dressed, red haired, lady and made her drop a glove because he couldn't see where he was going.

"Sorry." He muttered, then he noticed the dropped glove.

"Lady, this uh..." He awkwardly called out to her, handing her the glove.

"Thank you." The redhead flirtatiously replied. A slight breeze blew back the woman's cropped hair and Tony stared at her as if he was mesmerized.

"Nice haircut," he awkwardly cleared his throat, "it suits you." He complimented her.

"Nice watch." She grinned back at him.

"Yeah, limited edition." Tony confidently replied. Which was slightly impressive since he was wearing a Dora watch.

"Oh, I don't doubt it." She sultrily replied. At this point I decided to step in and grabbed Tony's arm,

"Come on Dad, Mom's waiting for us inside." I grumbled, rolling my eyes for effect. The woman's eyes flicked to me as if just noticing my presence.

"Well, have a good evening." She grinned, still a little too flirtatiously for my tastes, before turning and walking away. Tony stared after her for a few moments and I sighed,

"So…how's Pepper?" I asked, giving him a pointed look.

"Did you see the burn on her face?" Tony quickly replied as he adjusted his hat.

"Is that what you were staring at?" I retorted, mentally kicking myself for missing the burn. Tony rolled his eyes at me as if to say 'obviously' and turned to walk into the bar.

"Well, it's rude to stare." I snapped as I jogged to keep up with him. As soon as we stepped inside thought, his entire demeanor changed. His shoulders hunched over and he looked extremely on edge. I swing my elbow into his ribs,

"Act normal. This is a small town, everyone knows each other. Some guy sketchily stalking around a bar is going to get noticed." I hissed at him through a fake smile. Tony just grabbed a drink and walked over to a table where a very distressed looking woman sat alone drinking something out of a bottle.

"Mrs. Davis, mind if we join you?" Tony politely asked, taking off his hat.

"Free country." Mrs. Davis shrugged.

"It sure is." Tony replied, sitting down across form her. I slide into the seat next to Tony and he slapped his hat down in front of me causing me to jump. I shot daggers at the back of his head.

"Alright," Mrs. Davis sighed, "Where'd you like to start?"

"I just want to say we are sorry about your loss. We want to know what you think happened." Tony kindly told her. Mrs. Davis warily eyed him up,

"Look, I brought your damn file. You take it and go." She replied, dropping the file on the table and dismissing us with a wave of her hand. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it." Tony opened the file and flipped through it,

"Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Yeah? Supposed to meet somebody here?" Tony asked her.

"Yeah." Mrs. Davis replied, her voice barely a whisper. Tony continued to examine the file until suddenly he flipped it shut and leaned across the table,

"Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself, I guarantee you. He didn't kill anyone. Someone used him." Tony solemnly told her. Mrs. Davis' jaw dropped,

"What?"

"Way to just drop it on her, Tony." I muttered, but Tony just waved me off and continued,

"As a weapon."

"You're not the person who called me after all, are you?" She whispered, trying to keep her voice from breaking and her tears from spilling over. Tony started to shake his head no when an old flip phone was slammed down on the table.

"Actually, I am." A female voice interrupted. Tony and I's heads snapped up recognizing the voice of the woman that Tony had literally bumped into earlier. The four of us sat/stood there in silence for a moment before I cleared my throat,

"You know, it's rude to interrupt." That simple sentence seemed to snapped things into action. The women grabbed Tony's arm and twisted it behind him while simultaneously slamming his head down onto the table. I quickly jumped back out of her reach so that she couldn't do the same to me. She snapped on a pair of handcuffs and threw him to the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's all this about? What the hell's going on here?" A man, who I assumed was the sheriff because of his badge, asked, walking over to our table.

"It's called an arrest." The woman calmly replied as she straightened out her skirt,

"I'll need the girl too." She added pointing towards me. I looked at her like she was insane.

"Me?" I scoffed.

"Sheriff, is it?" She asked, taking a step towards him.

"Yes ma'am, it is. And you are?" The Sheriff replied.

"Homeland Security." She charmingly smiled at him as she flashed her obviously fake badge, "We good here?"

"No, we're not good. I need a little more information than that." The Sheriff snapped, not falling for her act. Tony nodded at Mrs. Davis and she tossed the file under the bar.

"Well, I think it's a little above your pay grade, Sheriff." The woman retorted.

"Apparently buying a quality fake badge was above your pay grade." I smirked as I ran my hand through my hair, but the pair ignored me.

"Yeah, well, why don't you get on the horn to Nashville and uh...upgrade me?" The Sheriff confidently replied, not backing down.

"Alright, you know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way, but uh...the fun way's always good." The woman flirtatiously replied as her hand started to turn red like molten lava. The Sheriff sighed and turned to a man nearby,

"Deputy, get this woman and…" But he never got to finish his sentence. The woman interrupted him by thrusting a burning hot badge into his face and shooting him in the stomach. The bar erupted in chaos. People started to scream and run for their lives. While the woman was distracted, Tony and I took off running.

"Hey hot wings, you want to party? You and me, let's go." Tony taunted her as we exited the bar.

"Shit, Tony don't taunt an angry woman." I scowled at him.

"What are you going to do about it princess?" He mocked as he took over running down the street. Suddenly his skidded to a stop in front of me noticing a blonde man getting out of a car a little further down the street. The man mockingly raises his cup in a toast to Tony before dumping its contents on the street and pulling out a gun. Tony and I take off the other way. I hear the gun fire as we dive behind a car. Tony and I looked around for an escape when he noticed a man lying beside the car.

"Crazy, huh?" Tony smirks. I rolled my eyes at his antics, but I couldn't help cracking a smile.

"Yeah." The man nodded. Tony looking back over his shoulder at the blonde man and then back to the hiding one,

"Watch this." Tony replied, quirking an eyebrow. Suddenly he stood up and took off running and launched himself through a shop window. My eyes widen in shock, but then I notice the redhead was aiming a gun at us so I called out to Tony,

"Tony get down." I yelled. I saw him dive behind the diner's counter. Assured that he was safe, I took off the other direction to look for Harley. The boy could be anywhere, but if the woman had seen us with him then his life was in danger. I ran down the street looking for Harley, but I couldn't find him. I scowled to myself wishing that I could fly without immense pain, knowing that I could've easily found the boy within seconds. I turned around to jog back down the street just in time to see the diner that Tony was in blow up.

"Shit, Tony." I hissed, my search for Harley forgotten as I sprinted back down the street hoping that Tony was alright.

* * *

**_That's it. I hope to update more than once a month, but my schedule this year is loaded...plus it's soccer season so that means lots of late nights. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it and reviews will probably provide more motivation to make time to write in my busy schedule *shrugs* just saying_**


	5. A Bomb is Not a Bomb When It's a Person

**_Thanks to the three day weekend I was able to get a chapter up! Got to love three day weekends. Anyway thanks for everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited. You were my motivation to cram in some writing this weekend!_**

* * *

**A Bomb is NOT a BOMB When It's A Person**

* * *

I reached what used to be small diner at the end of the street near the water tower and saw Tony staggering towards me. I ran to him and grabbed his one arm.

"Are you okay?" I anxiously asked, searching his eyes for any signs of a panic attack or concussion. Tony didn't answer me, he just took another staggering step and looked up over his shoulder. I huffed in frustration and tried to follow where he was looking.

"What are you…oh." I trailed off, noticing what he was staring at. The mangled and mutilated body of the red-head was lifelessly draped over the power lines nearest to the diner. A loud creak snapped him out his trance as he quickly whirled around to look up at the water tower behind him. The one support beam was blazing a fiery red and the tower was starting to tilt towards us. Then the support cables started to snap and the tower started to crumble. Tony grasped my arm and pulled me away from the tower. We took off through a small Christmas Tree lot, weaving in and out of the trees. Somewhere in the middle of the maze of trees somehow we managed to get separated.

Suddenly there was a loud clang and I turned around in panic, realizing that I had reached a chain link fence. The water tower came crashing down on top of a trailer and the water roared across the lot towards us bringing the remains of the trailer with it. I threw my hands up and managed to freeze the water before it could hit me, but I had no clue where Tony was. I scooped up some of the dark mud beneath my feet, mixed it with water, and then froze it into the shape of a gun before scouting the area for Tony. I was careful to stay hidden, knowing that the fire people as I had decided to call them could be anywhere.

After searching the area for a few moments I spotted Tony. His foot was trapped under a metal beam and he couldn't escape. I started to move out into view when I heard a familiar scream that made my stomach sink down into my shoes,

"Let me go! LET ME GO!" Harley screamed.

"Shit." I hissed to myself, quickly ducking behind a portion of trailer wall.

"Help me! Help me!" A male voice mockingly imitated Harley. I saw Tony start to struggle harder with the rubble that was pinning his leg down as the blonde fire man walked into view with Harley slung over his shoulder. The man pulled up a chair in front of Tony and plopped a gasping Harley down onto his lap,

"Anyways, hey kid, what would you like for Christmas?" The blonde asked as fiery orange and yellow patches danced across his skin.

"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry!" Harley apologized as his struggled against the man's iron grip. Tony was uneasily glancing around looking for a way to save Harley when he spotted me. With a discreet head nod that could be mistaking for him pulling on the metal beam again his gestured for me to do something.

"Oh. No, no. I think he was trying to say 'I want my goddamn file.'" The blonde man threateningly told him, his eyes blazing red.

"I think he was trying to say let me go." I smirked, stepping out from the rubble behind him and holding up my fake gun. The blonde man quickly snapped his head towards me.

"Release the boy or I'll shoot." I glared at him, my voice deadly calm.

"Drop the gun or the brat gets it." He countered. I scowled and tried again,

"Hey, it's not your fault kid. Remember what I told you about bullies? Tony prompted Harley while I distracted the man with my fake ice gun,

"Last chance." I growled. That's when a blinding white light explodes near the blonde man's head and he is thrown to the ground. Harley took off running and was out of sight before the man could stand back up.

"You like that, West World?" Tony gloated, "That's the thing about smart guys, we always cover our asses." Tony quipped, raised his hand, whipped out a hidden repusler, and blasted the blonde man right in the face. The blonde man was sent flying backwards from the force of the hit towards me and I barely avoided being hit by his unconscious body.

"That's what you get you, son of a bitch." Tony muttered to himself as his flung his repulser off his hand and started to try and free his leg again. I silently walked over and lifted the beam enough so that his foot could slide out.

"Nice of you to finally show up." He sarcastically told me as he held out his hand for me to help him up.

"I told you not to taunt an angry woman." I pretended to lecture him as I pulled him to his feet. Tony bounced right up, jogged over to the blonde man, and took his car keys,

"What do you think he drives?" He asked me, jingling the car keys.

"A Prius." I drily replied as I ran my hand through my hair. Tony smirked and snapped the keys up into his hands.

"Let's go find out." Tony grinned, standing back up. He clicked a button on the keys and the lights on an expensive looking black car lit up. Tony started briskly walking towards the car and I had to jog to keep up,

"Hey slow down!" I complained.

"Not my fault that you're short and can't keep up." Tony dismissively replied, waving me off.

"I am not short! Five-eight is considered tall for a girl!" I protested still straining to keep up.

"Stay here." He ordered as we reached the car. I scowled, but grudgingly followed his orders and leaned back against the car, too tired to argue. Tony quickly walked further down the street inside the bar that we had been in earlier and came back out a minute later with a manila file. As he walked back down the street towards me a saw Harley, in a cowboy hat, run up to him.

"You're welcome!" Harley proudly grinned.

"For what? Did I miss something?" Tony asked, looking at Harley like he was crazy.

"Me," Harley said pointing to himself, "saving your life." He finished hitting Tony's arm.

"Yeah. A: Saved you first, B: Thanks, sort of, and C: If you do someone a solid, don't be a yutz, alright? Just play it cool otherwise you come off grandiose." Tony dismissively rattled off as the pair reached the car. Tony lightly shoved me out of the way so that he could open the front door of the car.

"Unlike you?" Harley retorted, Causing Tony to pause getting in the car. I let out a low whistle,

"Wow, the kid's known you a couple of hours and has already got you pegged." I smirked.

"Get in the car." Tony glared at me. I rolled my eyes and walked around the front of the car. As I passed Tony he smacked me upside the back of the head.

"Ow." I muttered, rubbing the back of my head and making a note to get him back later as I trudged around to the passenger side of the car and climbed in. Tony threw the file on top my lap and wearily turned around to face Harley.

"Admit it, you need me. We're connected." Harley continued. Tony leaned down towards Harley's face and took off Harley's hat,

"What I need is for you to go home, be with your mom, keep your trap shut, guard the suit. And stay connected to the telephone, because if I call, you better pick up. Okay?" Tony straightened back up and mockingly looked around, "Can you feel that? We're done here. Move out of the way or I'm going to run you over. Bye, kid." Tony quickly finished as he climbed into the car and threw his hat at me I sighed,

"Wow Tony that was harsh."

"Yep." He replied as he turned on the car. I rolled my eyes,

"Do you like making little kids cry?"

"I'm not going to apologize." Tony replied.

"I never asked you to." I huffed.

"Good, cause I'm not going to." Tony snapped.

"Good." I retorted.

"Fine."

"Fine."

We were silent for a few moments. Then Tony reluctantly rolled down the window and I didn't even bother to hide my victorious smirk.

"I'm sorry, kid. You did good." Tony apologized.

"Good job, Tony that actually sounded sincere." I muttered and Tony quickly hit my stomach in response, knocking the wind out of me, but never once turning his attention away from the dripping wet boy in front of him.

"So now you're just going leave me here, like my dad?" Harley solemnly asked. I couldn't help but chuckle at the kid's guts. It took nerve to try to manipulate Tony Stark.

"Yeah." Tony nodded without a moment's hesitation. I scowled and elbowed him in the side.

"What?" Tony practically growled at me. Then his eyes narrowed and he turned back to Harley,

"Wait, you're guilt-tripping me, aren't you?" Tony asked. Harley gave Tony his best puppy-dog eyes,

"I'm cold." Harley replied in his most pathetic voice as he hugged himself for warmth.

"I can tell. You know how I can tell?" Tony asked Harley, mocking Harley's pathetic voice. Harley just shrugged,

"Cause we're connected." Tony finished as he peeled out of the parking spot.

"That was rude." I commented, staring out my window while I watched the town of Rose Hill rapidly disappear behind us. Tony was a really fast driver. If we didn't get pulled over by the cops for speeding, I would be surprised.

"Eh, life is full of disappointments. The kid might as well learn it now." Tony shrugged. We drove along in silence for a few minutes, the only sound coming from the annoying beep of the dash board.

"Can you buckle up?" I snapped, figuring that if he was going to drive a hundred miles an hour he might as well put his seat belt on. We didn't need another reason to get pulled over.

"It's my car." Tony retorted.

"No it was Mr. Blonde-Fire-Person's car and the beeping is annoying." I argued back.

"You're annoying." Tony fired back.

"Oh, you're mature." I replied, imitating his voice.

"I don't sound like that." Tony protested.

"Buckle up." I scowled, running my hand through my hair.

"Whatever." Tony grumbled, but he grudgingly buckled up.

"Thank you." I sighed, beyond relieved that the obnoxious beeping was gone.

"Don't get used to it." Tony muttered.

"Is it really that hard to just say you're welcome." I sarcastically replied.

"Yes." He snapped as he grabbed the file off my lap and started to flip through it.

"If you're going to read can I drive?" I anxiously asked as the car started to drift from side to side on the road.

"No. it's a back road. Nothing's going to happen." Tony dismissively waved me off.

"That's what they all say." I retorted.

"Whatever." He sighed in frustration and threw the file back down on my lap, "There's nothing new to look at anyways." Tony frowned, thoughtfully tugging on his ear. I let a deep breath and went back to staring out the window. Suddenly Tony snatched the file off my lap. My head snapped towards him and I watched as he flipped a paper from the file over again and again.

"What is it?" I asked, hoping he would tell me, but knowing that he most likely wouldn't.

"Hold this." He ordered, thrusting the paper at me and picking up a phone.

"What if I said no?" I snarkily asked him, but Tony just waved me off and focused on his phone call.

"Put it on speaker." I whispered. Thinking that logical if it was on speaker we couldn't get pulled over and more selfishly that I wanted to know what was going on. Tony sighed, but he reluctantly complied.

"Hello?" A male voice answered the call.

"Did you ever have a chick straddling you and you look up and suddenly she's glowing from the inside out, kind of a bright orange?" Tony asked. I rolled my eyes and face palmed,

"Of course he hasn't."

"Yeah, I've had that. Who is this?" The male voice replied and Tony shot me a 'see I told you so' look.

"It's me, pal. Now, last time I went missing, if I remember correctly, you came looking for me. What are you doing?" Tony quickly asked.

"A little knocking, talking, making friends in Pakistan. What are you doing?" The man asked,

"Going over a hundred on a back road after blowing up a diner and killing two fire people. No big." I flippantly replied, before Tony could respond.

"Who is that?" The man asked, but Tony ignored him,

"Your re-design, your big re-brand, that was AIM, right?"

"Yeah." The man replied, sounding confused as to why Tony could be asking about it. Tony crumpled up the paper in frustration and threw it on top of the dashboard.

"I going find a heavy-duty com set right now, I need your log in." Tony ordered as he felt around the car for a pen.

"It's the same as it's always been, War Machine 68." The man replied. I hit Tony on the shoulder to get his attention and then handed him a pen and notepad. He quickly took it from me and turned his attention back to the man on the phone,

"And password please?" Tony asked as he pulled the pens cap off,

"Well, look, I have to change it every time you hack in, Tony." The man explained.

"It's not the eighties, nobody says 'hack' anymore. Give me your login." Tony flippantly replied. After a moments of hesitation the voice replied,

"War Machine Rox with an X, all caps." Tony and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Yeah, okay." The man sighed, clearly wishing that Tony would knock it off, but Tony kept laughing. Then suddenly he got serious,

"That is so much better than Iron Patriot." Tony calmly replied before hanging up the call. We drove for a few more seconds before Tony suddenly pulled a U turn right in the middle of the street causing me to slide into my door.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed, but Tony didn't respond. He just pointed at a sign that said, "Miss Chattanooga Christmas Pageant."

"Really? You pulled a U-ie that almost killed me so you could go looked at pretty girls?" I snapped in disbelief.

"It didn't almost kill you." Tony pointed out as we pulled into the parking lot.

"It could have." I grumbled.

"But, it didn't," He interjected, "Anyways, we aren't here for the girls."

"Wow that's probably the first time you ever said that." I smirked. Suddenly Tony slammed on the brakes and I was jerked forward. I shot a glare at him, but he just unapologetically shrugged,

"Whoops, brake check."

"I hate you sometimes." I scowled as he pulled into a parking spot.

"Join the club." Tony shrugged as he put on the cowboy hat that he had stolen from Harley and climbed out of the car.

"That's my line." I grumbled as I climbed out of the car and stood beside him. Tony just chuckled,

"Pull up your hood." He smirked as he jerked the hood up over my head.

"Ow! You pulled my hair, you idiot." I scowled at him.

"Just follow my lead." Tony ordered as he picked up a roll of cable and slung it over his shoulder. I adjusted my hood and walked after him towards one of the many news vans that were crowded into the front of the parking lot. He casually walked up to the back of one van and dropped the roll of cable. He turned to me,

"Stand guard." He ordered before quickly climbing inside the van. I sighed and sat on the bumper of the van while Tony fiddled around with something inside. I rested my head on the closed door and after a few moments I drifted off to sleep.

**Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll**

I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but I awoke to the sound of the loud click of a door unlatching. I slowly opened my eyes and looked over at the source of the noise. At the time I thought it was Tony, but when he started to talk I quickly realized my mistake,

"Excuse me, sir. I don't know who..." The man started to say to someone inside the van and I quickly jumped to my feet realizing that he must be talking to Tony.

"Shh..." I heard Tony reply from inside the van.

"Mom, I need to call you back, something magical is happening." The man spoke into his phone and started to climb into the van. I slipped in behind him and saw Tony giving the man the charming smile he used to talk his way out of trouble, but then the man started to fan girl.

"Tony Stark is in my van." He grinned.

"Shh, keep it down." Tony ordered the smile dropping off his face.

"Tony Stark is in my van!" The man repeated, ripping off his sunglasses.

"No, he's not." Tony quickly replied.

"I knew you were still alive!" The man exclaimed, his eyes bugging out of his head.

"Come on in, grab her, and close the door." Tony told him as he waved him inside the van and glared at me. The man roughly grabbed my arm and dragged me inside the van with them.

"Shh." Tony hushed him again.

"Wow, can I just say, sir?" The man excitedly asked, but then continued without waiting for a response, "I am your biggest fan."

"Okay. First, is this your van, is anyone else going to come in?" Tony anxiously asked.

"No, no, no. It's just us." The man grinned.

"What's your name?" Tony sighed putting out his hand.

"Gary." The man replied, grasping Tony's hand.

"Gary." Tony repeated.

"That's what he just said." I muttered, rolling my eyes and running my hand through my hair.

"Oh, wow." Gary gasped. He sounded like he was hyperventilating.

"Right there's fine." Tony reassuringly grinned, even though his eyes clearly said he was annoyed.

"Okay." Gary replied, putting his other hand on top of Tony's.

"I get a lot of this, it's okay." Tony smirked.

"Oh, good. Can I just say?" Gary begged.

"What do you..." Tony asked.

"No." I interrupted, but Tony waved me off,

"Yeah."

"I don't know if you can tell, but I have like, patterned my whole look after you." Gary grinned as he took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. Tony nodded.

"My hair's a little...it's not right." Gary apologized.

"It's fine." Tony reassured him.

"Because there's no product in it." Gary justified.

"Right." Tony agreed.

"I don't want make things awkward for you." Gary continued, starting to pick up on how awkward Tony was and how creeped out I was.

"You're not." Tony reassured him.

"Liar." I fake coughed into my arm, prompting an elbow in my gut from Tony.

"But I do have to show you...boom!" Gary rolled up his sleeve to show Tony a tattoo.

"A Hispanic Scott Baio?" Tony asked, then his eyes widened in realization, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is that me?"

"Yeah. It's uh... I mean, I had them do it off a doll that I made, so it's not like it's off a picture. So it's a little bit..." Tony interrupted Gary and grabbed his arms,

"Jerry, listen to me, okay? I don't want to clip your wings here, we're both a little over-excited. I got an issue. I'm chasing bad guys, trying to grapple with something from some hard-crypt data files. I don't have enough juice. I need you to jump on the roof, right? Recalibrate the ISDNs, pump it up by about forty percent."

"Got it." Gary nodded.

"Right, it's a mission." Tony told him.

"Yeah." Gary nodded again.

"Tony needs Gary." Tony seriously told him.

"And Gary needs Tony." Gary solemnly replied.

"So are you two going to kiss now or what? I smirked, "Because the sexual tension between you guys right now is kind of overwhelming." Tony flipped me the finger, but didn't turn his attention away from the fanatic in front of him.

"Be quiet about it." Tony ordered.

"Yeah." Gary nodded.

"Go." Tony shoved him towards the door. Gary ran out of the van, eager to please Tony.

"I thought he would never leave." I sighed.

"You had one job." Tony retorted.

"I fell asleep. I can't do this whole 'not sleeping for days' thing like you can." I explained.

"Obviously and for the record it's only been one day." He snarkily replied.

"Sorry." I muttered.

"Is that an apology?" He mockingly asked me.

"Don't get used to it." I smirked, quoting him from earlier.

"Get some sleep." He smirked, throwing his jacket at me.

"Thank you." I sighed as I slouched against the van wall and I wasn't certain, but just before I drifted off, I was pretty sure that I heard him quietly say,

"You're welcome."

* * *

_**There we go end of chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and soccer season officially starts Tuesday so I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have now that I'm going to be playing two or three games a week. DON"T WORRY I AM NOT STOPPING WRITING. The chapters just won't be updated as fast. Until next time :)**_


	6. Preperations

**_Thank you for all of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed. You don't ever understand how happy it makes me to know that people are reading and liking my story! Anyways I didn't have a lot of homework this weekend so I decided to write a chapter. Special shoutout to DanceAlpineRaceRead I woke up to your review one morning and it made my day!_**

* * *

When I woke up I was back in the passenger seat of the stolen black car. I blearily rubbed my eyes and looked out the window to try to figure out where we were, but all I could see was an empty road illuminated in the headlights ahead of us. Everything else was just darkness.

"Tony where are we?" I sleepily mumbled. Tony held up one finger to his lips, signaling me to be quiet. I rolled my eyes, ran my hand through my hair, and turned to look out the window.

"Harley, tell me what's happening, give me a full report." Tony briskly ordered.

"Yeah, I'm still eating that candy, do you want...do you want me to keep eating it?" Harley tiredly stuttered and I snapped my head towards Tony. The bleariness I had been feeling from my nap had vanished.

"How much did you have?" Tony impatiently asked.

"Two or three bowls." Harley replied causing my jaw to drop.

"Tony you can't just tell other people's kids to load up on sugar." I hissed at him. Tony waved me off and continued to talk to Harley,

"Can you still see straight?"

"Sort of." Harley mumbled.

"That means you're fine. Give me Jarvis." Tony ordered.

"Tony! He is not fine. That boy needs to stop eating candy and go to sleep." I snapped at him, but Tony ignored me,

"Jarvis, how are we?"

"It's totally fine, sir. I seem to do quite well for a stretch and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry. And, sir, you were right."

"Don't tell him that." I groaned, "His ego's big enough already."

"Oh yeah you're one to talk," He scoffed, "Please continue Jarvis." I mockingly gasped,

"He said please!" Tony glared at me and after waiting a few seconds to make sure that we were done childishly arguing with one another, the AI continued,

"Once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities, I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal." Jarvis replied.

"What're we talking? Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, where is it?"

"Actually, sir, it's in Miami." Jarvis corrected him.

"Okay kid, I'm going to have to walk you through rebooting Jarvis' speech drive, but not right now. Harley, where is he really? Just look on the screen and tell me where it is." Tony frustratedly sighed.

"Um...it does say Miami, Florida." Harley confirmed what the AI had been saying.

"Okay, first things first, I need the armor. Where are we at with it?" Tony anxiously replied.

"Uh...it's not charging." Harley told him.

"What?!" Tony snapped as he slammed the brakes and pulled the car off the road. I was just able to stop my head from slamming into the dash board and had turned to yell at Tony when I noticed that his hands were shaking and decided that it was wiser to not to yell at him right now.

"Actually, sir, it's charging, but the power source is questionable. It may not succeed in revitalizing the Mark 42." Jarvis corrected Harley, but the news did not have a calming effect on Tony if anything it made it worse.

"What's questionable about electricity?" He snapped as he started to breath heavier, "Alright, it's my suit and I can't...I'm not going to...I don't want to...Oh God, not again." Tony exclaimed as he quickly opened the door and climbed/fell out the door.

"Tony? Are you having another attack? I didn't even mention New York." Harley panicked.

"Harley! Shut up!" I snapped as got out of the car and ran over to Tony.

"Right, and then you just said it, by name, while denying having said it!" Tony sharply told the boy as he struggled to breathe.

"Tony don't talk, focus on breathing." I calmly ordered as Harley stuttered over the phone,

"Okay...um...uh..."

"Oh, God. What am I going do?" Tony gasped, sinking to the ground. I handed him some ice and he smushed it against his face to try to stop the attack. It helped a little bit, but not much.

"Can I slap you again?" I asked him, but he furiously shook his head no.

"Just breathe. Really, just breathe. You're a mechanic, right?" Harley calmly asked him,

"Right." Tony shakily replied.

"You said so." Harley reassuringly continued.

"Yes, I did." Tony replied, suddenly a lot calmer.

"Why don't you just build something?" Harley asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Tony paused for a moment and calmed down. I stood up and held out my hand to help Tony get to his feet. After a moment or two he grabbed my hand and stood up.

"Okay, thanks kid." Tony distantly replied and then he climbed back into the car. I grinned and took a few steps back. I lined myself up with the hood of the car and I took off running full speed towards it. When I got close, I jumped and tried to slide across the hood like I had seen spies do in movies, but I got stuck halfway across the hood. I sheepishly craned my need to look at Tony who was currently sitting in the driver's seat. He just smirked and waved for me to hurry up and get off the hood of the car. I grinned, rolled off the hood, and climbed into the passenger side of the car.

"Another one of your life dreams?" He asked as he pulled back onto the road.

"Yep." I smirked, running my hand through my hair. Tony shook his head at me and pulled on a baseball cap. We rode in silence for a little bit before I finally broke it,

"You know if you treat you and Pepper's kids like you treat Harley, Pepper will kill you." I warned him.

"I wonder what who you and Capsicle's kids will take after, you or the Capsicle." Tony mused, sending a teasing wink my way.

"Hopefully Steve, but with wings." I joked back.

"Your home would be more like a nest." Tony drily commented.

"Better a nest than a zoo." I retorted.

"They won't be that bad…" Tony tried to convince me, but I just rolled my eyes,

"Only if they take after Pepper." I smirked.

"You're no angel either." He argued.

"According to the media I am." I countered, with a dramatic hair flip and the biggest, most obnoxious smile, plastered on my face. Tony shook his head, blared some rock music over the radio and stomped on the gas.

* * *

After traveling for a few hours listening to nothing, but deafening rock music I was ready to launch myself out of the car. I was considering flying alongside the car despite knowing that it would be extremely painful. I was ripped out of my thoughts of escape by the sound of the brakes screeching and Tony sharply turning the car into the parking lot of a large home improvement store.

"Why are we here?" I asked him, eyeing up the large warehouse-like building, but Tony ignored me and started to put on a dark hooded jacket, a dark baseball cap and some large glasses.

"You look like you're going to rob the place." I sarcastically informed him, hoping to get a response out of him.

"Duly noted. Are you coming or not?" Tony replied as he climbed out of the car.

"I haven't left you yet have I?" I pointed out.

"Of course not," he scoffed, "I'm Tony Stark."

"No, you're an ass." I retorted as I climbed out of the car and pulled up my hood. Tony dismissively waved me off as he walked into the store with me trudging along behind him. As soon as we entered the store Tony grabbed two carts and shoved five dollars into my hand,

"Go buy me some caffeine." He ordered.

"No." I replied shoving the money back at him.

"I wasn't asking." He frowned already distracted by the plethora of supplies. He was glancing around the store and analyzing what he could use. I could practically see the gears turning in his head.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do." I snapped. Tony closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"I need caffeine in order to save the world _again_." He let out a deep breath, "Could you please get some caffeine for me princess?"

"You'll owe me one." I warned him.

"Again, duly noted." Tony tiredly replied.

"Fine. Only because you asked so nicely." I grumbled as I snatched the money out of his hand. I stomped to the vending machine near the front doors. I glanced over towards the cash register as I was storming to the machine and saw the employee trying to hide a smile, probably because he had seen Tony and I's exchange. I scowled and angrily punched in the number for an energy drink near the top of the machine as I muttered curses under my breath.

"That your brother?" The still smirking cashier asked.

"Unfortunately." I drily replied as I grabbed the energy drink out of the machine.

"That's rough." The cashier sympathized.

"Yep." I quickly replied as I quickly walked past him, not interested in having a conversation with the man. I wove in and out of the rows looking Tony. Finally I found him riding on the back of one full shopping cart while dragging another full cart behind him.

"Tony," I called out and he turned towards me, "think fast." I smirked tossing the can at him. Tony easily caught the can and smirked back at me as he opened it.

"Thanks princess." He winked at me.

"Ew. Stop." I glared at him, "What would Pepper think?"

"That it's a good thing that you're not a threat." Tony grinned, taking a long sip out of his can.

"Whatever," I scowled, "Just pay for the stuff. I'm going to wait in the car."

"Okay be out in a few." Tony flippantly replied as I angrily walked out and sat, fuming, in the car. After what felt like an eternity, Tony finally emerged from the store with his two carts in tow. He slowly dragged the carts across the lot. I smirked to myself and created a patch of ice right where his foot was about to land. The effect was instantaneous. His foot slide out from under him and Tony fell right on his butt. I chuckled to myself as Tony quickly got up and tried to pretend that he hadn't fallen. He speed walked to the back of the vehicle and opened the truck.

"Did you have a nice trip?" I innocently asked.

"Shut up." Tony grumbled.

"Oh was your shopping _trip _not fun?" I replied putting a slight emphasize on the word trip.

"Do you want to help me unload these carts?" Tony asked trying to change the subject.

"Not really, but I will." I smirked, "After all you don't hear the great Tony Stark asking for help very often."

"That's because the great Tony Stark doesn't need help very often." Tony proudly retorted.

"Smartass." I scowled as I climbed out of the car. I walked around to the back of the car only to find everything already unloaded.

"Never mind, you were too slow. It's already done." Tony flippantly replied.

"Then why did you have me get out of the car?" I asked raising my voice. Tony shrugged and threw his arm around my shoulder. The he leaned in close and whispered,

"Revenge."

My eyes widened in shock, but before I could get away Tony dumped a bucket of cold water over my head. The cold didn't bother me, but the water soaking through my sweatshirt was really annoying.

"What the hell was that for?" I protested as I tried to rub the water off of my clothes. It didn't work, of course, but it was a reflex.

"My wipeout earlier." Tony nonchalantly replied.

"That wasn't me!" I lied.

"Bullshit. I'm a genius." Tony replied as he walked back around and climbed in the driver's side of the car.

"Bullshit. I'm a genius." I mockingly repeated as I closed the truck and climbed into the passenger side. Tony rolled his eyes and squealed out of the parking lot which slammed my head back against the head rest. I glared at him and peeled off my sopping wet sweatshirt. After driving a few minutes in silence Tony turned off the road and brought the car to a stop in the parking lot of a small motel. A flickering neon light reassured us that the motel was in fact, open despite the lack of cars in the minuscule parking lot.

"Wait here." Tony ordered as he climbed out of the car. I sighed, too tired and too wet to argue. I watched him disappear into the pale yellow, one story building and then emerge ad few minutes later, twirling a set of keys in his hand. I opened my door and stood up to meet him.

"Where's the room?" I asked, trying to figure out which one of the five rooms was now ours.

"Ah, ah, ah…" Stark smirked as he held up his index finger, "shirt and shoes are required."

"Motel policy?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"My policy." He retorted. I inwardly frowned to myself, but was careful to only let a little bit of disappointment show on my face.

"But my sweatshirt is soaking wet." I sighed, giving him my best puppy dog face.

"Yeah it is." Tony nodded, agreeing with me.

"And I don't have another shirt." I continued as I rubbed my arms, acting like I was trying to keep warm and took a step closer to him.

"Yep, I know." Tony nodded again.

"And it's just so cold." I pathetically looked at him.

"Are you done?" He sighed and I inwardly scowled. He saw right through me.

"Apparently so." I drily replied and I pulled on my wet sweatshirt in defeat.

"Okay here is _one_ of the sets of keys." Tony smirked, throwing them at me. I easily caught the key with one hand.

"We are room 5A. All the way down at the end. I'm going to unload the car and you go do…whatever." Tony explained, dismissively waving me off at the end. I shrugged and walked over to the room. I unlocked the door and propped it open so that Tony could easily get inside. I knew that he thought I would try to lock him out. That was why he emphasized that there were at least two sets of keys. I entered the room and glanced around. The first thing I saw was a big bed with ugly pale green covers that took up half the room. There was an uncomfortable looking brown chair in the back right corner and a small wooden nightstand with a an old lamp sitting on top of it. I wearily looked around for a bathroom. There was a white door next to the nightstand and as I opened it I held my breath, hoping it was a bathroom and not a closet. I slowly opened the door and to my excitement it was a bathroom. A small, dirty, slightly gross bathroom, but it had a shower and that was all I cared about. Neither of us had showered in two days and since he was busy unloading the car I decided to take advantage of the empty bathroom.

* * *

By the time I finished my long, cold, shower Tony had long been finished with unpacking the car and had started to assemble some weapons out of the hodge-podge of materials he had bought at the store. I walked out of the bathroom in my sports bra and leggings while drying my hair with a towel,

"On the bed? Really?" I sighed, all hope of getting a good night's rest gone.

"No shirt? Really?" He retorted imitating my voice.

"Touché." I grinned throwing the wet towel at him. Tony smirked and easily batted the towel away. He nodded his head towards an empty chair in the corner of the room with a folded blanket and pillow placed on it and turned back towards the mess on the bed.

"Thanks." I muttered as I trudged over to the chair. I leaned the pillow up against one of the armrests and sat sideways the uncomfortable motel chair. I left the blanket on the floor, too lazy to bend down and pick it up. It's not like I needed it anyways. I closed my eyes, but they snapped back open a few seconds later. After repeating this multiple times, I completely gave up on trying to go to sleep.

"Tony?" I quietly said. Tony looked up from the glove he had been working on and looked up at me,

"Yeah princess?"

"Do you ever what it would be like to be normal?" I sighed.

"Define normal." He replied.

"Not a superhero." I clarified.

"I'd be a genius, playboy, billionaire." Tony smirked.

"I'd be in my senior year of high school." I sadly smiled, "Or I guess I would be on Christmas break. I would be studying for finals or applying to college."

"But you wouldn't be sitting in some shitty motel room about to save the world for the second time with the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, Tony Stark who just happens to be Ironman." Tony smiled at me trying to lighten the mood.

"My biggest concerns would be what college I was going to get into, what to wear, what my friends were doing, prom, or if that cute boy I saw earlier was interested in me. Not that the fate of America was in my hands or that I have to train some girl how to control fire." I continued, ignoring his quip.

"You still have a cute guy and some dysfunctional friends…" Tony joked.

"Yeah, but the guy is Captain America and I view him more like a brother." I frowned.

"All relationships have to start somewhere," Tony shrugged, "Look at me and Pepper."

"I just don't think Steve and I could work out." I sighed. I wasn't entirely sure what prompted me to start this conversation with Tony and I knew I was probably going to regret it later, but I was going to blame it on the lack of sleep and that it was past midnight.

"You two kind of balance each other out." Tony opened his mouth to continue, but I cut him off,

"Meaning, we are pretty much complete opposites."

"Opposites attract." Tony flippantly replied.

"Not really." I retorted, "I just feel like everyone expects us to date because we are Avengers and around the same age, but I just don't see it working."

"Maybe you should wait until you can hang out with him more before you decide." Tony advised.

"But that's the thing. When I'm around him a lot, it's almost like everyone else's plans for my future drown out my own. Right now, when I have no contact with S.H.I.E.L.D., and Steve is states away, it feels like I can see things clearer. I don't have someone telling me what I am going to be or do next. I get to choose. The distance from all those expectations makes them seem trivial and I can't help but wonder why I even worried about them at all." I explained and I immediately felt like a weight was lifted off my chest. Tony scrutinized me for a second and the responded,

"Look, princess," He sighed, his face uncharacteristically serious, "I can't tell you what's right or wrong. That's for you to decide. It's your life. Do what makes you happy and don't worry about what other people think."

"Thanks Tony." I smiled at him.

"Anytime, princess, now what was that you were saying about teaching a girl to control fire?" Tony asked, changing the subject. I laughed and shook my head.

"Her name is Amber Bleu. She is forgetful, dramatic, and really inexperienced, but she is probably one of the kindest, most honest, people I have ever met."

"Next to Steve." Tony interjected. I rolled my eyes and ran my hand through my hair,

"Yes next to Steve. At first glance, she seems like she's going to be a train wreck of an agent, but every once in a while you see these glimpses of greatness and you know that she's going to be a fantastic agent."

"Phil used to say that about you." Tony seriously told me. I sadly smiled back him,

"No lie, I think she may be Avengers material one day."

"I'll keep that in mind." Tony smirked. I opened my mouth to replied, but was cut off by a huge yawn that didn't escape Tony's notice,

"Okay princess, time for bed." Tony ordered.

I opened my mouth to protest, but Tony would hear none of it,

"No. I am used to not sleeping for extended periods of time, you on the other hand, are not. I will keep it down and you try to sleep for a few hours. We are leaving early in the morning to get the asshole who destroyed my mansion."

"Yes mother." I sarcastically replied, but I reluctantly closed my eyes.

"Oh and Blaise?" Tony asked.

"Yeah?" I muttered, sleepily opening one eye to look at him.

"Merry Christmas Eve."

"Merry Christmas Eve, Tony." I sighed.

* * *

**_Chapter six done. next chapter they meet the Mandarin!_**


	7. We Came, We Saw, We Conquered?

_**So, I am so sorry. I thought I posted this...but then I actually didn't. Good news though two chapters today!**_

* * *

When I woke up I was falling. I landed face-down on the cheap, dark carpeted floor in an ungraceful heap.

"Why the hell can't you ever just wake me up like a normal person?" I groaned as I rolled over, still tangled in the blanket, to look up at Tony. He was wearing his black ball cap, sweatshirt, pants, boots, and a pair of dark sunglasses. I immediately woke up, remembering that today was the day we took down the Mandarin.

"Because you look so ugly in the morning that I can't help myself." Tony calmly replied.

"I still don't understand why women flock to you." I jokingly scowled as I untangled myself from the pale green blanket.

"Usually they don't stay more than one night." He smirked and winked at me.

"You're disgusting." I replied, scrunching my nose.

"Get some clothes on and get in the car." Tony dismissively replied as he carried an armful of homemade weapons out the door. I scowled at him and held up my middle finger to his back as he walked out to the car.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day." Tony called back over his shoulder. I glared at him as I quickly grabbed my sweatshirt and combat boots and ran out the room after him. I reached the car just as Tony had finished loading the last of his weapons into the back. I climbed into the passenger seat.

"Stay here. I have to go turn the keys in." Tony ordered.

"Why did you yell at me to hurry up and then tell me to sit in the car?" I asked, running my hand through my hand through my hair in frustration. Tony shrugged as he walked towards the motel. He walked back out a few minutes later with a big grin on his face. As soon as he climbed into the car though, the smile settled into a smirk and he handed me a piece of paper.

"What is that?" I asked, not taking the paper from his outstretched hand.

"If I told you that would ruin the surprise." Tony teased.

"Tell me or I'll throw it out the window." I threatened. Tony rolled his eyes,

"Apparently the motel owner saw you the other night and just thought you were absolutely stunning…"

"That's ridiculous." I interrupted.

"You're ridiculous. Don't interrupt me." Tony retorted, "Now like I was saying, he decided that you were the one and this morning when I walked up to the counter to turn in the keys he started asking me some questions…"

"About what?" I interrupted again.

"God dammit, Blaise. Let me finish my story. Questions about you, me, _us_ and of course I informed him that there was and never will be any us. That's when he got this excited look on his face. It was like I had given him his Christmas present a day early. He quickly got out this piece of paper, wrote a note on it, and handed it to me. Then I came out here and gave it to you. If you're interested, I can drive you back to visit after we save the world." Tony offered a huge smirk plastered on his face.

"Screw you, Tony." I scowled as I snatched the paper from his hand.

"Not thank you, but I'm sure the man from the hotel would be up for that. Just call the number and give him a time and place." Tony quickly retorted. I glared at Tony as I unfolded the paper and read the note:

_I saw you the other night and you took my breath away. When I saw you again this morning, I knew I had to make my move. I was so happy to hear that you weren't in a relationship. There is no one else who makes me feel this way besides you, Tony. Love, Veronica._

At that point I burst out laughing. Obviously Tony had misinterpreted the situation.

"Tony," I gasped between fits of laughter, "this note isn't for me, it's for you. Besides it's from some girl named Veronica."

"I never talked to a girl." Tony quickly replied, snatching the paper back out of my hand.

"The guy was probably a wingman." I explained, "She was probably nearby listening in."

"Huh, That makes a lot more sense. I thought the guy at the desk seemed a little old for you." Tony mused.

"How old was he?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Like fifty." Tony casually replied. My jaw dropped, my eyes widened, and I slapped Tony's arm.

"Fifty?!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I mean you seemed interested in Capsicle and he's ninety something." Tony shrugged.

"That's different," I scowled, "You're an asshole."

"Why can't you just appreciate what I do for you?" Tony sighed in exasperation.

"Whatever." I muttered, running my hair through my hair in frustration and staring out the window.

* * *

We didn't talk the rest of the trip. He blared music and I'm fairly certain I fell asleep. It wasn't because we were angry at each other. I think we were both just preparing for what we were about to do. Before this point it hadn't seemed real, but when we crossed a bridge and saw the skyline of Miami it made the whole situation breathtakingly real. We reached the estate easily and parked a mile away in the woods that surrounded the large white walled-in mansion. It had an ugly red roof, but besides that the mansion was beautiful. It sat right on the ocean, had its own dock laden with ships and within the mansion's walls were extensive flower gardens.

We had silently stalked our way through the forest and had reached the back gate leading into the mansion. Tony was perched in a nearby tree memorizing the guard's rotation. I sat a few trees away trying to memorize the guard's rotation. After a few minutes I heard a noise,

"Pssssttttt." Tony whispered to get my attention. I sent him a withering glare, but it didn't deter him. He starting motioning to me with elaborate hand signals that I assumed meant climb down from the tree. I started my descent and looked over at Tony. He grinned and started to descend down his tree. As soon as I hit the ground I snuck over to his tree.

"Follow me." Tony ordered as he took off running along the wall. I rolled my eyes, but quickly sprinted after him. Suddenly, Tony veered left and jumped up the wall, grabbing onto the ledge and pulling himself up and over. I gritted my teeth and flew over the wall after him. Thankfully, the pain in my wings was surprisingly small.

We landed in one of the gardens and began to sneak towards a winding staircase that lead up to the house's porch. We flattened ourselves against the wall and began to sneak up the stairs. Suddenly, Tony held up his hand, motioning for me to stop and pointed to the top of the staircase. I leaned out around him and spotted a security guard at the top of the steps with his back to us. Tony motioned for me to back up a little bit and I quickly complied. He pulled a yo-yo looking thing out of his bag and began to spin it around so quickly that it began to whir. With a flick of his wrist his hook one end of the yo-yo around the guard's leg and dragged him down the stairs.

As soon as the guard hit the ground Tony and I launched ourselves into action. Tony pulled out a gun and shot one of the guards in the head while I sent an ice shard through another one's chest. The one Tony had dragged down the steps was now charging back up at us, but Tony incapacitated him with a kick in the balls that sent him flying down the steps.

"Nice shot." I smirked.

"Thank you," He smirked back, but then his face turned serious, "Duck." I hit the ground and a security man stumbled forward, off balance. Tony grabbed the man's out stretched fist, slammed him to the ground, and shoved a taser right into his chest.

"I could've taken him." I muttered, looking slightly astonished at the man now lying lifeless on the ground in front of me.

"I took less time." Tony flippantly replied as he started walking down the path, looking for our next targets. He tossed a purple Christmas ornament down the path in between a pair of guards standing near a fountain. One picked up the ornament and it exploded in his hand, blinding him. He partner whirled around to face us, but before Tony could do anything I sent an ice shard through his chest and he fell backwards into the fountain.

"I had that under control." Tony glared at me.

"Well, you should've gotten it under control faster." I retorted.

"Touché." He grinned as we walked past the man in the fountain and dropped an ornament in.

"Tony!" I exclaimed as the ornament exploded, "Was that really necessary?"

"I don't like when people touch my stuff." Tony calmly replied as we snuck into the back down of the house. Tony entered first to scope out the area,

"Clear." He motioned for me to follow him in. We looked around the empty room. It was a pig-sty. There were papers on the tiled floor, a girl unconscious on a table in the middle of the room, and a fish tank that was so dirty you couldn't even tell if there were fish in it.

"Okay while we have a break can we discuss our cover story if we get caught?" I whispered.

"Obviously I'm Tony Stark. How do you plan on covering that up?" Tony scoffed.

"No. Not that part. Why I'm here with you." I explained.

"Oh, continue." Tony nodded and he walked around inspecting the room.

"I am a spy who has been following you for the past however many months." I told him laying out a plan.

"Yeah, whatever. Follow me." Tony dismissively whispered as he flattened himself against a wall next to a doorway in the back right of the room that had it's curtains open.

"Why is it so hot in here? I told you to put it at sixty-eight." A sleepy female voice drifted out from the room. Tony and I peered inside. There was a guard with his back to us talking to a blonde slutty-looking girl in a messy room..

"My fault again." The guard replied, obviously annoyed, "Let me tell you something sweetheart, I am not your personal..." The guard was cut off by Tony placing his gloved hand on top of his head and electrocuted him. The girl didn't bat an eye at the violence and if her lethargic movements were anything to go by, she was obviously drunk. Tony slowly reached forward for the gun lying in front of the guard and held a finger up to his lips, signaling for the girl to be quiet. The drunk girl held up her fingers in the shape of a gun, made soft "pew pew" noises, and chuckled to herself as if she had made the funniest joke in the world as Tony quietly walked through a set of white doors into the next room. I rolled my eyes at the intoxicated girl, ran my hand through my hair, and quietly followed him.

The room was full of movie making equipment and creepy posters. This was obviously the place where the Mandarin recorded his messages. After weaving through many large, disturbing, posters we came upon a large wooden bed that was occupied. We couldn't see who was in the bed because they were completely covered by maroon bed sheets. Tony snapped off his sunglasses and approached the bed while I backed him up, ready to blast anything that moved. Tony pulled the gun and stalked up to the bed. He looked at me as if to see if I was ready and I gave him a firm nod as I pointed my hands at the bed. With one fluid motion he pulled the covers back and raised the gun. Two scantily dressed girls gasped and sat up in the bed. Tony quickly hushed them before they could scream and was about to ask them where the Mandarin was when I heard the sound of a toilet flush. Tony spun around and pointed his gun towards the door that the sound had come from and quickly backed up so that he was hidden behind the headboard of the bed. I scrambled over to hide behind the headboard, but Tony waved me away,

"Find your own hiding spot!" He hissed. I scowled at him and took off running the other direction. As the door slammed open, I managed to slide in-between some crates and the girls quickly readjusted themselves to appear like nothing had happened.

"Well, I wouldn't go in there for twenty minutes!" A British voice announced, laughing. I held my breath as I anxiously waited for him to come into view so that I could see the infamous Mandarin. He walked into view were bright red pants and waving his cardigan around as if to get rid of a bad smell. His head was entirely shaved, excluding a small top knot and he had a bushy beard covering most of his face.

"Now, which one of you is Vanessa?" He asked as he walked over to a night table laden with fortune cookies and alcohol.

"That's me." The one girl said, timidly raising her hand.

"Ah, Nessie!" The Mandarin exclaimed as he tossed her a fortune cookie, "Did you know that fortune cookies aren't even Chinese?" Tony peeked out from behind at bed and looked at the Mandarin with a confused expression on his face.

"There's some guy over here..." The one girl sleepily tried to tell the Madarin, but he was too caught up in the fortune cookies,

"They're made by Americans, based on...based on the Japanese recipes." He continued.

"Hey!" Tony yelled as he stepped out from behind the bed and pointed the gun at the Mandarin.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell." The Mandarin muttered as he quickly put his hands in the air and whirled to face Tony. He started looked side to side for an escape, but I stepped out from between the crates so that there was none.

"Don't move." Tony ordered. The Mandarin immediately started to talk Tony down so that he would lower the gun,

"I'm not moving. I'm not moving. If you want something, take it, although the guns are all fake because those wankers wouldn't trust me with the real ones…"

"What?" Tony interrupted.

"Hey, do you fancy either of the birds?" The Mandarin asked, referencing the girls in the bed.

"Heard enough." Tony snapped, cutting him off, "You're not him. The Mandarin, the real guy,"

The Mandarin started to shake a little and Tony started to yell at him,

"Where?! Where's the Mandarin?! Where is he?!"

"Woah! Woah!" The Mandarin exclaimed as Tony led him at gun point over to a chair, "He's here. He's here." He said pointing to himself and continuing. "But he's not here. He's here, but he's not here."

"What do you mean?" Tony yelled, cocking the gun.

"It's complicated. Hey, it's complicated, alright?" The Mandarin replied.

"It is?" Tony harshly asked.

"Tony calm down." I ordered scared that he was going to pull the trigger before we got any answers.

"Listen to the girl. It's complicated." The Mandarin repeated.

"Uncomplicate it." Tony ordered the Mandarin. Then he turned to the girls,

"Ladies out. Get out of the bed, get in the bathroom." The girls quickly complied and took off running towards the bathroom. While Tony was turned around locking the bathroom door, the Mandarin tried to crawl away. Tony sighed and shot the ground in front of the Mandarin causing the man to scramble back to his seat. Tony glared at me,

"Were you planning on just letting him crawl away?"

"No, you're a big boy and I prefer to let you handle your own problems without my intervention." I snarkily replied.

"Then why are you still here?" Tony sneered at me.

"It's my job." I coolly replied.

"Are you two…? Can I leave?" The Mandarin asked as he started to scoot his chair away from us.

"NO!" We simultaneously yelled at him.

"Speak." Tony growled.

"My name is Trevor, Trevor Slattery." The man began,

"What _are _you? What're you a decoy? You're a double, right?" Tony rapidly asked, not waiting for an answer in between questions.

"What? Like an understudy? No, absolutely not." The Mandarin scoffed. Tony rolled his eyes and raised his gun again.

"Don't hurt the face!" The Mandarin cringed, "I'm an actor."

"Tony maybe if you only ask one question at a time instead of five, you will actually get an acceptable answer." I drily suggested. Tony paused for a moment, considering my advice, before he spoke,

"You got a minute to live, fill it with words."

"Just a role. 'The Mandarin', see, it's not real." The Mandarin shrugged.

"Then how did you get here, Trevor?" Tony snapped.

"Um...well, I um...I have a little problem with, um...substances, and I ended up, um...doing things, no two ways about it. In the street that a man shouldn't do."

"Gross." I muttered, boredly running my hand though my hair and finding a comfortable place to sit on the floor.

"Next!" Tony ordered.

"And then, they approached me about the role and they knew about the drugs."

"What did they say they'd get you off them?" Tony asked, confusion etched onto his face.

"Said they'd give me more." The Mandarin happily replied, "They gave me things, they gave me this palace. They gave me plastic surgery. They gave me things." The Mandarin leaned back in his seat and started to snore.

"Did he just nod off?" Tony incredulously looked at me. I shrugged.

"Hey!" Tony yelked as he kicked the Mandarin to wake him up.

"No! And a lovely speedboat! And the thing was, he needed someone to take credit for some 'accidental explosions'." The Mandarin continued, picking up right where he had left off.

"He?" Tony snapped, obviously holding back frustration, "Killian?"

"Killian." The Mandarin confirmed.

"He created you?" Tony asked.

"He created me." The Mandarin repeated.

"Custom-made terror threat." Tony disbelievingly replied.

"Yes! Yes!" The Mandarin happily exclaimed as he stood up out of the seat. Tony sat down in the recently emptied seat, trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

"His think tank thinked it up," The Mandarin exclaimed as he slipped into the voice he used on screen, "The pathology of the serial killer, the manipulation of Western iconography, ready for another lesson? Blah blah blah. Of course, it was my performance that brought the Mandarin to life." He proudly finished, offering Tony a drink. Tony declined and continued his interrogation,

"Your performance? Where people die?"

"No, they didn't. Look around you, costumes, green screen. Oh, honestly, I wasn't on location for half this stuff. When I was, it was movie magic, love." The Mandarin exclaimed, waving his arms around. I closed my eyes, hoping to take a quick nap while the pair yelled back and forth.

"I'm sorry, but I got a best friend who's in a coma and he might not wake up. So you're going to have to answer for that. You're still going down, pal. You under..." Suddenly Tony stopped threatening the Mandarin. My eyes snapped open just in time to see Tony fall unconscious to the floor. The blonde man from Rose Hill stepped into view and pointed a gun at me.

"Okay, Trevor, what'd you tell him?" The blonde asked the Mandarin.

"I didn't tell him anything." The Mandarin quickly replied.

"Nothing?" The blonde snapped. The Mandarin paused for a second before confidently replying,

"No."

"You should've pressed the panic button." The blonde scolded him.

"Well I panicked, but then I handled it." The Mandarin replied causing me to chuckle to myself. The blonde's focus snapped back onto me.

"Stand up, slowly." He ordered. I immediately complied and decided to lie my way out of this situation. I slowly stood up and gave him my most charming smile and spoke in a high, bubbly, voice,

"Oh my gosh, don't shoot! I'm, like, one of the Mandarin's whores and I, like, totally got lost."

"Nice try." He scowled at me as he pointed the gun at my head. We stared off at one another for a few seconds before I slumped my shoulders in defeat,

"What do you want from me?" I sighed.

"I don't want anything, but I have a feeling that Killian might." The blonde cryptically answered.

"Clever." I mockingly smirked as I held out my arms to be tied knowing that the next few hours were going to be rough for Tony.

* * *

_**So I had an idea the other night. What would you all think of me possibly bring Loki into this story later on? And if he did make an appearance do you think he and Blaise would make a good pairing?**_


	8. Saving Mr President

_**I'm going to try writing in third person just so you all know. Feel free to let me know if you hate it.**_

* * *

Blaise had been placed alone in an uncomfortable metal chair in an empty metal room. The only light came from a wall of windows that were so dirty that they blocked more light than they allowed in. Her hands had been zip-tied together behind her back, but she had freed her hands within minutes of her captors leaving. She would have left already, but she wasn't sure what they had done with Tony. He had been carried unconscious out of the room that they had found the Mandarin in and she was led into this dingy room and tied to a chair, but Blaise was prepared for whatever they could throw at her. She had been prepared her whole life for situations like this one. She was ripped out of her thoughts when a man with nicely combed back hair and an expensive looking tan suit walked in.

"You know what my old man used to say?" The man asked, but she refused to respond or even look at him.

"A bird in hand is worth two in the bush." He continued. She looked at him with a narrowed gaze wondering what the cliché adage had to do with the current situation, but still would not respond.

"Although in this situation, it appears that I hold all the birds in my hand." The man confidently grinned. He grin shrunk a little when she didn't give him a response.

"Let's cut to the chase shall we? Who are you?" He asked this time sounding impatient.

"I'm sorry my parents told me not to talk to strangers." She timidly replied. The man chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, my name Is Aldrich Killian." Killian gently smiled at Blaise and held out his hand. "Now we aren't strangers." She stared at his hand and wondered how stupid this man could be. As far as he knew her hands were still tied behind her, yet he wanted to shake her hand. Killian slowly drew back his hand and continued his interrogation,

"Why were you with Tony Stark?"

"Wait, who's Tony Stark?" She airily replied with a giggle deciding to pretend to be the dumb blonde that most people just assumed she was.

"If you were smart, you would answer my question. Bad things happen when I get angry." Killian threatened and Blaise had to fight to keep a smile off her face. She almost told him that people had said the same about her, but then decided on a less confrontational reply.

"Maybe I'm not smart." She quietly replied managing to keep a straight face.

"I was just talking to Tony Stark…if I was to ask him who you were, what would he say?" The man prodded.

"A pain in the ass." She grinned no longer able to fight off the smile that had been tugging at her lips. Killian's smile dropped and he ran his hand through his hair in annoyance.

"Who are you?" He growled, his eyes glowing red. She pressed her lips together and refused to look at him.

"This is the last time I'm going to ask," Killain darkly threatened her, "Why were you with Tony Stark?"

"I enjoy his kind, humble, personality." She coolly replied. Kilian scrutinized her for a few moments before he spoke an order into his radio,

"Savin hook her up."

"Shit." Blaise muttered to herself knowing that the serum that caused normal people to turn into torches would not mix well with her DNA.

"Is there a problem?" Killian innocently asked.

"No, sir." She quickly replied, keeping her face placid despite that fact that her brain was freaking out. As soon as the door shut Blaise launched herself into action. She slid the top of the chair under the door handle and tilted it back so that the door was locked into place and after she was satisfied that it would hold she turned her attention to the glass windows. Blaise knew that the iron bars in-between the panes would cause a problem because it would not allow her to simply jump out the window. She closed her eyes and sent a large blast of ice at the windows. There was a loud crash as the glass fell to the ground that did not go unnoticed by those stationed outside her door. There was a scuffling noise, but Blaise didn't look back to see if the door held. She ran full speed and launched herself out the window hoping that her injured wing wouldn't fail her. Luckily when she spread her wings there was a relatively small amount of pain, but she quickly flew up to the roof, not willing to risk her wings giving out.

"I suppose that went about as well as could be expected." She muttered to herself as she wiped blood off a newly discovered scratch on her arm. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair as she tried to figure out what to do next. She had no idea where Tony was. Going back to S.H.I.E.L.D. at this point, would be suicide because she had lost her target and she had not missed her last two check-ins. If she returned now Fury would probably confine her to the office and or some community service.

Suddenly she was torn out of her thought by a loud crash. She ran to the edge of the roof and searched for the cause of the noise. She spotted flying pieces of red metal flying into the building followed by the sound of gunshots. She flew up into the air to get a better view of the situation and spotted a man in a red, metal suit stumbling down a set of stairs.

"Tony." She happily gasped as she dove down to meet him. She landed behind him with a thump, but he didn't hear her because he was talking on the phone,

"Rhodey, tell me that was you in the suit." He snapped staring up at the sky.

"Uh...um...kind of. Main house as fast as you can. Somebody I'd like you to meet." Tony ordered as he cocked his head to the side as if listening for something. Suddenly he whirled around to face me with his repulsor raised.

"Tony! It's me!" She exclaimed as she hit the dirt, narrowly avoided getting hit by a repulsor blast. Tony lowered his arm and lifted his face mask.

"Damn it, I missed." Tony grinned, but she could see the concern in his eyes. Blaise jokingly scowled at him,

"I'm fine thanks for asking." She sarcastically replied.

"I didn't." Tony smirked at her, "Here's a phone. Follow the minion in Rhodey's suit. If something interesting happens, call me." He ordered as he tossed her a cheap flip phone to replace the one that she had lost in the ocean back in Malibu.

"Tony, how many to I have to tell you-" She sighed partly trying to annoy him, but mostly concerned that her wing wouldn't be able to handle the journey, but Tony didn't let her finish.

"I'll make it up to you, just go." He snapped.

"Whatever." She scowled, rolling her eyes to conceal her worry and took off after the man in the Iron Patriot Suit. She flew after him undetected for an hour or so to Washington D.C., specifically the hangar where Air Force One was kept. President Ellis had gotten out of his limo and was walking down the red carpet that led into Air Force One. The Iron Patriot landed behind him with a metallic clang and President Ellis turned around to face him. They exchanged salutes and boarded the plane. Blaise immediately dialed Tony's number,

"Yello?" Tony answered.

"No one says that anymore." She teased.

"Do you have something to tell me? Because if not, I'm hanging up." Tony boredly replied.

"The dude you told me to follow just got on Air Force One with President Ellis." She reported causing Tony to start cussing into the phone. She held the phone away from her head to let him get it out of his system.

"Tony stop it! What am I supposed to do?" She shouted into the phone.

"Oh so now you want me to tell you what to do?" Tony exclaimed sounding exasperated.

"Nevermind." She scowled, snapping the phone shut and deciding to trail the plane. Every couple of minutes she checked her phone to see if Tony had called her back or to figure out what time it was. After about an hour of tailing the plane, a couple minutes after noon she saw Iron Patriot leave the jet. Blaise starting following the suit as she flipped open her phone to call Tony,

"Tony I'm following Iron Patriot." She said into the phone.

"Roger that." Tony replied abruptly ending the call. Blaise stared at her phone in disbelief. She couldn't believe how rude Tony was. She angrily shoved her phone in her phone and pushed Tony out of her mind. She needed to focus on tailing the red, white, and blue suit in front of me.

* * *

Blaise had been following the suit for hours. Her wings ached, the sun had gone down at least an hour ago, and they had started flying over the sea ten minutes ago. Blaise drifted higher up into the sky. The night had brought with it a light fog that helped conceal Blaise from the suit. Finally, an off-shore oil rig appeared. A dark metal structure rising out of the inky black sea. All the lights were blurry, giving the entire place an eerie vibe. Blaise subconsciously pulled up her hood as if it would protect her from the foreboding sense of evil she felt in the air. Iron Patriot landed on the rig with a clang and walked into an interior room followed by two guards. Blaise silently landed outside the room and listened in on the conversation inside.

"Good evening, sir." A voice she recognized as Aldrich Killian's greeted the suit. His greeting was soon followed by the hiss of the suit opening and the sound of a body falling to the floor.

"Welcome aboard, Mr. President." Killian sarcastically greeted the man. Blaise heard a feminine voice gasp in horror. Blaise peeked around the edge of the door hoping she was wrong about who's voice it was, but unfortunately she was right. Pepper Pots was bound upright to a metal sheet with an IV dripping a serum into her arm and a horrorstruck expression on her face. Blaise saw Killian start to walk the president towards the door and so she quickly flew back up into the safety of the cloud cover. As soon as she was sure that she was in the clear she dialed Tony's number.

"Tony I have big news." She gasped, slightly out of breath from her quick escape.

"Spit it out Princess, no need to be dramatic." Tony snapped.

"I wasn't…" Blaise trailed off, deciding not to waste any more time, "Killian is an offshore oil rig. He has Pepper and the President both here. I'm going to make sure that nothing gets out of hand, but hurry."

"We already knew that. See you in a few. Stark and Rhodes out." Tony replied, once again abruptly hanging up the call.

"Well screw you too." Blaise muttered as she dropped the phone into the ocean. She coasted down closer to the rig and started circling around it like a bird of prey to observe what was going on. Iron Patriot was walking across the ship until he reached the middle. He then stopped and held both his arms out straight. Two men walked over with large chains and wrapped them around his wrists. When they were sure that the chains were secure they lifted his mask and the suit was slowly being hoisted into the air over top of an oil tank.

"They are going to light him up." Blaise gasped and immediately resolved that she would step in if anything happened to the president.

"Broadcast will commence shortly. Take final positions." A loud voice announced over a public address system. Lights and camera were being focused on the president. Suddenly a barrage of gunfire erupted from the far side of the ship from where Blaise was. She quickly circled around and sure enough spotted Tony and Rhodey in the midst of it. She saw them take cover behind some crates and shoot the light that was illuminating their hiding spot. Fire people starting running towards where the pair was hiding. Leaping down from platform to platform on the rig like monkeys. Suddenly a head pops up from behind the crates and then disappears just as quick. A second later the head pops back up again, but this time it stayed up longer. Blaise dove down behind the crates and crawled over to meet them.

"Three guys, one girl, all armed." Tony told Rhodey.

"More than that. Those are just the fiery ones. We're surrounded by people with guns." Blaise interjected scaring the pair of men who hadn't noticed her crawl over.

"Why do you do that to me? Do you want me to freak out?" Tony complained.

"Next time I'll put up a neon sign so everyone knows I'm coming." Blaise sarcastically replied with an exasperated eye roll.

"Thanks. I'd appreciate it." Tony snarkily replied.

"Whatever." Blaise shrugged, "What's the plan Rhodey?" Rhodey sadly shook his head.

"Attack!" Tony interrupted.

"No Tony, shut up. That plan always sucks." Blaise snapped, running her hand through her hair.

"God, I'd kill for some armor right now." Rhodey sighed.

"You're right, we need backup." Tony quickly agreed. Blaise stared at Tony questioningly. He had responded a little too quickly causing her suspect he had something up his sleeve.

"Yeah," Rhodey let out a breathy laugh, "a bunch."

"You know what?" Tony asked and both Blaise and Rhodey looked at him.

"What?" Blaise replied. Tony turned and nodded towards the sky. A small light appeared in the distance.

"Is...is that?" Rhodey stuttered out in disbelief.

"Yep." Tony proudly replied as the one dot became many dots flying closer to the rig.

"Are those?" Rhodey asked still unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Yeah." Tony quickly replied, a small smile on his lips.. Blaise shook her hand in disbelief,

"I should have known…smart guys always cover their asses." She chuckled.

"Damn right." Tony smirked. The suits arrived and surrounded the rig. It was an intimidating sight.

"Merry Christmas, buddy." Tony grinned, nudging a still shell-shocked Rhodey. The extremis soldiers froze, unsure of what to do.

"Jarvis," Tony crooned, "target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice." He ordered.

"Yes, sir." What sounded like a hundred British voices simultaneously replied. Tony smirked, obviously in his element.

"What are you waiting for?" Tony asked the suits who still hadn't moved. He theatrically took a step forward,

"It's Christmas." He grinned and did the sign of the cross, "Take them to church." He finished throwing up his arms. The suits snapped into motion and starting taking out extremis soldiers left and right. One suit was thrown into a barrel of oil and exploded, obliterating an essential support beam and causing the rig to tilt unsteadily.

"Jarvis, get Igor to steady this thing." Tony ordered and immediately a suit ran over to support the beam.

"This is how you've been managing your downtime, huh?" Rhodey teased, looking around at all the suits.

"Everybody needs a hobby." Tony shrugged. Blaise and Rhodey chuckled at the man's quip.

"Heartbreaker help Red Snapper out will you?" Tony suddenly blurted out, directing his suits.

"Heartbreaker…Red Snapper… how exactly did you choose those names?" Blaise skeptically asked.

"When you build forty two Ironman suits in the period of four months then you can critique my name choice." Tony snarkily replied.

"Fair enough." Blaise grinned. Suddenly one suit was sent flying into a hanging platform of oil drums causing them to explode in all directions. The compartment where Blaie had seen Killian and Pepper was rocked by one of the explosions.

"Tony," Blaise gasped, "Pepper was being kept up there."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Tony snapped, standing up and calling a suit to him. Within seconds a suit appeared and formed around his frame.

"Nice timing." Tony smiled to himself.

"Oh yeah, that's awesome. Give me a suit, okay?" Rhodey agreed, quickly standing up with his arms outsretched.

"Oh, I'm sorry. They're...they're only coded to me." Tony unapologetically apologized, mocking Rhodey's refusal to supply him with bullets earlier.

"What's that mean?" Rhodey asked.

"I got you covered." Tony grinned as he took off. Seconds later another suit landed and walked up to Rhodey,

"Good evening, Colonel. Can I give you a lift?" It asked as it embraced an embarassed Rhodey.

"Very funny." Rhodey grumbled as he wrapped his arms around the suit. Blaise debated on whether to follow Tony or Rhodey and eventually decided on Rhodey since he was not wearing a suit and therefore, was more vulnerable. If she had learned anything from this adventure it was that Tony could take careof himself. She took off after the suit that was hugging Rhodey and landed on the platform that he had been dropped off on.

Suddenly a loud crash came from up above. Both of their heads snapped towards the noise as they watched a large chunk of flaming metal fall from the sky onto the lower levels of the rig below. A loud buzzer started going off and the sound of a woman screaming echoed through the air as a bright yellow platform starting sliding out over the gap in between the platforms. Blaise was poised to leap off the platform when she saw a red suit flying towards the woman. She turned back to Rhodey,

"Tony's got it." She informed him and the man nodded in reply. The pair took off running towards where the president had been strung up. They climbed up onto a platform overlooking the act of treason.

"Mr. President! Just hold on, alright? I'm coming. Just hold on. Hold on." Rhodey called down to the President as an extremist soldier landed on the platform.

"Got it." Blaise smirked as she sent a powerful blast of ice that knocked the soldier off the platform. Rhodey zipped lined down to a platform closer to the President, but two soldiers followed him. He shot them each three times, but the serum in their veins healed them. While the soldiers were distracted Blaise flew down to the President.

"Hello Mr. President, my name is Blaise and I am going to be helping you today." She joked. The President gave her a distrustful look and Blaise ran her hand through her hair in frustration.

"I'm an Avenger. Trust me I'm qualified. Now, I'm going to undo one of these chains so we swing over there. Any questions?" She paused waiting for a question, but the President just shook his head, "Good here…we…go!" She exclaimed as she severed one of the chains with a blast of ice and the pair swung to safety. Rhodey landed nearby on the platform, looking a little worse for the wear.

"You look damn good, Mr. President, but I'm going to need that suit back." Rhodey grinned and the President let out a sigh of relief.

"Tony? I'm taking the President back to D.C. Rhodey is staying to help you." Blaise informed Tony over com.

"Wait, what?" Rhodey asked, "I thought I was going to take the President." He argued.

"I call dibs." Blaised smirked, "Good luck." She replied as she quickly lifted the President into the air and took off flying towards the nation's capital before Rhodey could reply.

* * *

**_So yeah this is going to end the involvement in Ironman. don't worry though there's still at least on chapter left in this and there will be more stories branching into winter soldier and agents of shield. Seriously though tell me your thoughts about a Loki and Blaise._  
**


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